“I love the dark. It gives you a special, secret place all to yourself for you to snuggle down under your blankets and be completely alone and invisible to anyone else.” Nelly smiled. “But we’re not completely in the dark, are we? Look how pretty the candles are.”
“They are kind of pretty,” the girl said tentatively.
Nelly continued to encourage her, and he finished placing the candles around while Nelly stood in front of the children and explained what they were going to be doing next.
He and Nelly had gotten into a rhythm, and it was almost like they could read each other’s minds. They worked so well together it was uncanny.
Maybe he had just grown up, since he had the same ability to work with his Secret Saint partner too. He’d never felt anything like it in his life before, and now he had two women that he worked so well with.
His eyes went to Nelly as she was animated and engaged with the children.
She was so good with them. She was born to be a teacher for sure, but there was also a womanly grace about her that pulled him in a way that he wanted to resist.
It was the same way his Secret Saint partner pulled him. Odd that it was happening at the same time in the same way, and he looked back over his life to think about what was different.
His mom for one. Maybe Isadora coming back with her children.
But maybe he was just maturing.
He thought about his sister Terry saying that she had examined their mom and sent her for tests. They wouldn’t know the results of the tests for a bit, and she wouldn’t be able to diagnose anything in particular until she did.
The waiting was going to be excruciating.
Terry had assured him that she didn’t think it was anything serious, but legally she wouldn’t have said that to anyone outside the family because she didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up and be sued for misstating.
He heard Nelly’s voice calling his name, and he came out of his fog of thoughts to join in with the program practice again.
It went better than one could expect for a candlelight practice, and he had to admit he was almost disappointed when it was over. He wasn’t sure whether it was the candles, or whether it was just the attitude of the children caused by doing something a little bit different, but the whole practice seemed to take on a fun, Christmasy glow.
Pastor Connelly came in as the last children left. He was a little disappointed because he was hoping to be able to talk to Nelly by herself. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted to say… Maybe an apology?
He just knew he didn’t want to walk away from her.
“Unfortunately, someone’s been stealing money from the donation box again,” Pastor Connelly said gravely as the door closed behind the last student, and Nelly stood on one side of the sanctuary, folding up costumes and placing them on the front pew for easy access for the next practice while he walked around and started blowing out and collecting candles.
“Well, then you should know that it’s not Roland, at least,” Nelly said, and she barely looked up from where she was folding the costumes.
“Actually, again, he’s the only one on the video betweenyesterday morning and this afternoon when I counted the money just before the children arrived.”
Nelly looked stricken, and Roland almost smiled. After all, she had so much belief in him that the idea that he would be on the camera again was absolutely shocking to her, obviously.
“I had to come in. I brought the box of costumes in from the storage shed where we keep them. I said I would do that, and I did.”
“And you helped yourself to another hundred dollars while you were at it,” Pastor Connelly said.
“No. I didn’t,” Roland said, keeping his voice calm. It made him a little bit angry that the pastor immediately jumped to that conclusion, but he understood why the pastor might. It was hard—he was on the video both times the money had been stolen, but he also knew for a fact that it hadn’t been him, so there was no point in getting upset. Although it did not feel good, at all, to be falsely accused.
“Roland had to bring the costumes in. We had asked him to do that, and he did. So obviously of course he was going to be on the video.”
“But there was no one else there. I went through the entire thing.”
“Well, then something else is going on, because Roland said he didn’t do it, and we all know that he’s not a thief.”
It surprised him that she was still defending him, even with what amounted to more “evidence” against him.
“Do you have the camera pointing at the actual container?” Nelly asked, as though she had just considered that he was only accusing Roland of coming in, not saying that he actually saw him take it.
“No. I really should get a camera that is pointed there. When we had our security system installed, it was installed to police the front of the building. We don’t have cameras in the back, and we don’t have cameras inside.”
