Oscar pointed at the parking lot. 揑f you抣l look at Stella抯 face, you抣l see that their Texas grandmother don抰 like it any better than their Kentucky granny did. If her blood pressure gets any higher, we might have to tote her off to the hospital.?
揌ow can you tell her blood pressure is on the rise??Risa asked.
揌er face is red, and she抯 fairly well humming with anger. That would make a saint抯 pressure go sky high,?Oscar told her. 揌ere she comes. Get ready for a sermon.?
Little puffs of dust boiled up at Stella抯 feet as she stomped across the gravel parking lot. She picked up the wooden cross. 揧ou haven抰 won!?She grabbed the paper, wadded it up, and threw it at the building, then stopped a few feet from the porch. 揑抣l keep praying, and God hears my prayers. The Good Book says to pray believing, and I do.?
揋ood night, Mama.?Risa waved.
The girls had started singing 揗y Church?as the last of Stella抯 friends left with her. When Lily sang the lyrics asking if she could get a hallelujah, the whole crowd behind the building answered with a loud 揌allelujah!?
Chapter Twelve
The name Back Home does kind of sound like an antique store.?Mary Nell yawned as she sipped her coffee and watched the sun rise. Not long ago she would have been frosting doughnuts at one of her three jobs, grabbing a sip of coffee when she could, not sitting on the porch and drinking it at her leisure.
揑 keep telling all y抋ll that folks are going to call the bar the Old Church.?Oscar poured his second cup from the pot he抎 brought out and set on a table in front of the porch swing.
The sun was just coming up, giving definition to the trees around the property. She抎 been born in this house, lived in it until she was eighteen and went off to college, and now she was back in the same bedroom that had been hers all those years. She might have felt like a failure, going back in time, but she didn抰。 She felt liberated and free at last. That tune to the old song by the Gaither Vocal Band that her mother had liked so well came to her mind: the lyrics to 揟hank God I Am Free?talked about being like a bird out of prison, and that抯 exactly how she felt.
揇oesn抰 matter what they call it. The lawyer will be filing the final documents for the business license by closing time today, and he has to have the name of the bar on them. I like Danny抯 Place, but I also like Preacher抯 Bar and Grill.?She set the porch swing in motion with her bare foot. One of her first memories was of sitting on her father抯 lap in the porch swing after supper. He would read a children抯 book to her. More often than not it would be a Dr. Seuss book because she liked the singsong of the rhyming words. Later on, when she was a teenager and far too old to listen to her dad read books, she had gotten her first kiss from a boy on that swing. The night before she packed up what she wanted and left with Kevin, she and her dad had sat on the swing. He had begged her to reconsider and stay in college until she finished her degree. Now she was back on the swing, holding on to the chains and listening to them creak with each movement. They seemed to be singing 揟hank God I Am Free.?
揑 need to put some oil on those chains,?Oscar said.
揟he creaking is talking to me. They抮e singing one of Mama抯 favorite hymns this morning,?Mary Nell said with a smile.
揥hatever it抯 singing, it抯 not on key.?Oscar chuckled. 揑 kind of recognize the tune, though. Can抰 remember the name of the hymn, but it talked about being free as a bird.?
揟hat抯 the one,?she said.
Oscar tilted his head to one side. 揑 think they might be singing 慏anny Boy.?Think they抮e trying to tell us something??
Mary Nell began to sing the lyrics to the old Irish song in her alto voice.
Oscar pulled a red bandanna from the bib pocket of his faded blue overalls and wiped his eyes. 揧ou sound just like my sweet Nellie when you sing, and she loved that song. You should have been the one to try to get a toe in the door in Nashville. Kevin didn抰 have what you抳e got.?
揥hat makes you think that??Mary Nell took the bandanna from him and wiped the tears from her own cheeks and handed it back to him. 揧ou know I can抰 ever let anyone cry alone, especially if it brings back memories of Mama.?
揗emories of her are all we have left, so we have to cherish them whether they make us sad or happy.?He stuffed the bandanna back into his pocket. 揂nd I said that about your singing because Kevin can carry a tune and stay on key, but he doesn抰 sing from the heart and soul like you do. You feel every word that comes out of your mouth.?
揙n some songs, maybe.?Mary Nell took a sip of her coffee and remembered thinking that every song on the radio was meant for her as she made the twelve-hour drive back to Riverbend from Nashville. She had sung along with some of them, cussed with others, and cried with a lot, but they had helped put distance between her and Kevin.