“To make the day sweeter,”she always said.
He sent God a grateful prayer over the blue-hued vista before continuing his trek.
The trail continued, rising higher, until he came to a flat area consisting of a collection of various buildings. A white two-story building offered a sign which read STORE, and another nearby rock structure looked like a blacksmith's shop. A little way through the trees, a white building—perhaps a school—stood on a hillside with a small house poised near the bottom of the hill.
Where to go next?
After a moment's pause, he approached the store and dismounted. A bell jingled his entrance, and a young girl stepped behind the counter from a back room of the shop. The room was about a third of the size of his and Kizzie's store, with, of course, much less inventory, but canned goods, some hardware, and a few reams of cloth were all featured in various places throughout the room.
“Can I help you, stranger?”
His attention traveled back to the girl. Something in her eyes looked familiar. Not the color of Kizzie's, but the same shape, and her hair was slightly lighter than his wife's.
“Good morning.” He stepped closer, watching expressions he knew so well travel over a new face. “I'm looking for the family of Sam McAdams.”
The girl's gaze sharpened on him, and a wariness tightened her young features. How old was she? Sixteen? And which sister? Maggie?
“Why are you looking for Sam McAdams’ family?”
“My name is Noah Lewis.” He drew another step closer and offered his hand. “I'm married to Kizzie.”
The girl's body froze, and then as the information sank in, her eyes widened. She braced her hands against the counter and continued to stare until her bottom lip trembled. “You're … you're Kizzie's husband?”
“I am.”
She blinked a few times, her eyes growing glossy. “She's … she's alive?”
“She is.” He nodded. “And the mother of two.”
A sound like a cross between a laugh and a sob erupted from the girl's lips, and she attempted to catch it.
“She doesn't know I'm here because I didn't want to disappoint her if, well, if your family wasn't willing to see her, but I thought I had to at least try. So I'd like to talk to your—”
“I can't leave, since Mrs. Cappy's gone,” came her quick response, those dark brown eyes still wide. “But Daddy's helping Jeb with repairing his barn after a tree fell on it. Laurel and Jon's there too. It ain't but a little over a mile up the mountain.” Her bottom lip trembled again. “We didn't know nothin’ about her. If she was alive or not.”
He sighed, the tension he'd been carrying about some confrontation dimming a little. “She's happy. I'm certainly happy to have her in my life.”
The girl's smile burst wide. “That's real good news, Mr. Lewis.”
“Noah, please.” He offered his hand. “And you are … Maggie?”
She sniffled and nodded, wiping her hand on her apron before taking his. “That's me.” She gave her head another shake. “Oh, how I wish I could see Mama's face when you tell her. To know her lost girl is found and fine. That'll do her heart a heap of good.”
Maggie's response hit him.
Several times, as she'd cried over the loss of her family in their private moments, he'd held Kizzie in his arms and attempted to work through a way to help her heal. At times, her father's actions sent him to his knees to help curb the fury. All the while, he'd created some sort of scenario about her family and her life that, perhaps, his hurt for her had misconstrued a little.
If Maggie's reaction gave any indication of the longing of most of the family, if her words about their mother proved an inkling of the desire for restoration, then perhaps they'd been aching as much for a different end to the story as Kizzie.
Maybe not her father, but the rest of the family.
He swallowed through the rising emotions in his throat, his chest tightening with a fight against those emotions.
Perhaps he should have come sooner.
But he'd only begun nursing the idea a month ago and had waited until he had an excuse to go overnight from Kizzie and the children, so that if the trip proved unsuccessful … or worse, she'd never know.
She wouldn't get hurt all over again.
