“Maybe when I have a family of my own, I’ll just live with you,” Roland said easily. He figured that his mom feared change. And he also figured that there wasn’t much chance of him having a family of his own. After all, who was he going to marry?
“You know you’re welcome anytime. I have always appreciated the work you’ve done to help with the upkeep of the home through the years. I don’t know what I would have done without you, although I do know that God would have provided. Still, the provision that He gave was you, and I am deeply grateful.” His mom smiled at him across the seat, and he glanced over and smiled back at her.
Maybe she was just getting old. And that made him sad too. But maybe it was best that he didn’t have a family—that way he was able to do his best to help his mother. He didn’t have anyone holding him back or getting in his way. That was the reason he was a good choice for the Secret Saint.
Speaking of which, he knew that tonight after he got home, he would help his mom inside and make sure she got to bed. He would wait until he was sure that she was asleep, and then he would slip out.
It took a little longer than what he thought, since his mom seemed to be restless, getting up twice—once to go to the bathroom and once to get a drink. She saw him still sitting on a stool in the kitchen and came out to chat.
Thankfully, she didn’t come around the bar, or she might haveseen that he had already put his boots on and was just making sure that he didn’t hear anything else from her.
They chatted for a bit, and she went back to bed.
He supposed, according to what Judd had said, that it really didn’t matter if his mom found out that he was the Secret Saint, but still, in the interest of keeping it as much of a secret as he could, he wasn’t going to tell her.
He wondered, after speaking with Judd and realizing that Judd wasn’t the first Secret Saint, who the actual first Secret Saint had been.
Maybe they were dead and gone, since he couldn’t really remember any Secret Saint activities before Judd had begun.
Tonight, he had decided to deliver groceries to the Harney family. They were on the list that Judd had given him, as being in need, and groceries were a pretty easy way to get started.
Roland had to admit he was excited about it as he drove to the box store, which was an hour away from Mistletoe Meadows. He had to go up and down three mountains, around hairpin turns, and finally down into the town of Whisker Hollow. He grabbed the groceries that he needed and made the harrowing trip back.
He loved where he lived—the views were amazing, and the wide-open meadows were bordered by thousands of acres of mountain woods. It was the best of all worlds and a little cooler than the rest of the low-lying Virginia area. They almost had northern weather, they joked among themselves at times. But he didn’t mind, because it meant snow at Christmas, and he really loved that.
Thankfully, it wasn’t snowing tonight, or that would have made this trip treacherous with all of the steep hills and curves.
It was almost two o’clock in the morning before he arrived at the Harney house. Actually, he parked down the street from them and made four trips, carrying two bags of groceries in each hand as he did so.
On the last trip, as he settled the groceries down, he noticed something he hadn’t noticed before.
Two bags, similar to his but sitting inside a box with the top cut off it, sat right next to the door.
That was odd.
Realizing that he had been smelling freshly baked bread, and the smell hadn’t penetrated his consciousness, he wondered if the freshly baked bread could be in the bags?
It was just the way it was all placed, and it made him wonder if someone else was doing something kind for the Harneys.
Not that the Harneys couldn’t use any kind of good at all. From what he understood, they could use all the help they could get.
But still, he was about to creep forward, just to put his nose next to the box to see if what he suspected was actually true, when the porch light snapped on.
Thankfully, he was standing beside a big old oak tree in the middle of the yard, and he ducked behind it quickly.
Judd hadn’t mentioned it, but perhaps a ski mask would be a good idea from here on out. And a special coat that he wore only when he was making Secret Saint deliveries. That way, if someone did happen to see him, they couldn’t have any kind of identifying information on him.
“Did you hear something?” someone from inside the house said as the door opened.
“I thought I heard a thump,” a man’s voice answered.
Mr. Harney had had an accident the previous year at work, and he hadn’t been able to go back to his regular job. The job that he was working now wasn’t nearly enough to keep his family of eight children fed, hence the need for help.
“What’s that?” the woman’s voice said, and the door opened wider as the man bent down and picked up the box with the bags in it.
They hadn’t noticed the groceries yet, and it made Roland itchy. He wanted them to see the groceries.Come on, look at the edge of the porch. There’s a lot more than just two little bags.
But they were examining the bags that they had found. He could hear the paper crinkling from where he stood behind the tree.
