Page 97 of A Whim and a Prayer

“No.” Mitch’s gaze wilted into a vacant stare as he took a sip of his coffee.

Snatching up a cookie, Charity settled back with a faraway look of her own as she chewed, the mystery of Winnie’s issues churning in her head. “Well, we both know Winnie is a late bloomer emotionally, so who knows? Maybe down the road their friendship will veer into something deeper.”

“And maybe they’ll just be friends for the rest of their lives, Charity, which as much as we love that boy, we’ll have to accept.”

“Maybe ….” Her eyes narrowed as she strained her brain to come up with a way to make it all work out. For pity’s sake, she’d always been the matchmaker in the O’Connor family, so she wasn’t about to give up now. She’d successfully matched Lizzie and Brady, Emma and Sean, and Steven and Annie, so she sure wasn’t going to go belly up on her daughter at this point. At least, not without a fight. Smiling a secret smile, she swiped Mitch’s fork while he was drinking his coffee and filched some cheesecake with a sly wink. “And then again … maybe not.”

Chapter Sixty-Six

God help us … Smile tight, Mitch stole his fork back to shovel another piece of cheesecake in his mouth before nudging the plate back to Charity and returning the fork. “Have you told any of your family yet?” he asked, hoping to distract her from any plot she may be dreaming up.

“No. Winnie begged me not to—she’s too embarrassed, and frankly, we can’t blame her. Of course Faith called because Abby had to tell her and Collin, so I asked them not to say anything to anyone else.” Charity scooted both plate and fork back to Mitch. “And, of course, Faith prayed with me, which was sorely needed.”

“I’ll say.” Mitch took another bite, then slid the plate back before stretching out with his coffee. “For the time being, I think we need to keep this under wraps for Winnie’s sake, including Hope and Henry, agreed?” He rubbed the bridge of his nose, suddenly exhausted.

“Agreed.” Charity shifted on the chair to face him with a broad smile, tucking a leg beneath her skirt like a little girl. “But maybe not for long because guess what? Our girl is a changed person.”

He blinked over his coffee cup. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” she said with a pinch of his leg, voice almost giddy, “when Winnie and I were talking for umpteen hours this afternoon, she gave her life to God, Mitch!”

That woke him up! He sat straight up, coffee cup all but dangling. “What? How?”

“Well, like I told Beck, when she had a third nightmare around three or so, I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I woke her up and oh, Mitch! She shot into my arms sobbing and telling me how sorry she was, and not just about this incident. She apologized for butting heads with me all these years, not realizing I was only looking out for her own good. We talked for hours and hours, darling, and both of us said we’ve never felt closer.”

Mitch’s face went slack, completely gobsmacked by the news Charity just shared. Sweet mother of Mercy! He thought Henry’s transformation was fast. If this was true and Winnie carried through—she’d be the queen! He shook his head to clear the shock from his brain. “That’s … wonderful news! But how did it happen?”

She proceeded to tell him about their hours-long conversation, sobering considerably when she mentioned the rape she’d gone through before they were married, the memory of it still boiling his blood after all these years. He’d never come closer to murder than he had at that time, but thank God his faith had intervened, as it would now with Winnie, God willing.

When she finished, she grabbed his hand with a glaze of tears. “Oh, Mitch, I’m so grateful to God because suddenly I have a relationship with Winnie like I do with Hope and Julia. Oh, and guess what she told me?”

“What?”

“She said that Beck told her that the name Winifred means ‘holy peace’ or ‘holy reconciliation,’ which is exactly what God had done between us—isn’t that amazing?”

“It is,” he whispered with a caress of her jaw. “But you know what’s even more so?” He skimmed a soft kiss to her lips. “You.” Settling back in his chair, he peered at her through lidded eyes when her smile disappeared. “So, with such good news, why do you look like the other shoe is going to drop?”

She expelled a long, lingering sigh. “You know me—I just have this awful sense that there’s still a deep-seated feeling of abandonment stopping Winnie from feeling she’s worthy of love. And my sixth sense tells me that’s the reason she refuses to admit she’s in love with Beck or accept his love in return.”

“Why do you think that?” He grazed the side of her face with his fingers.

“Because of several awful dreams she’s told me about.” He felt her shiver as she peered up at him. “Remember all those nightmares she used to have in grade school? The ones she’d never tell us about?”

Mitch grunted. “How can I forget? Both of us lost a lot of sleep during that time before they finally stopped.”

“We did,” Charity said with a listless nod, but what’s even worse is apparently they never went away.”

“What?” He looked up, coffee cup halfway to his lips. “What do you mean?”

“I mean they started again in high school, apparently, which is part of the reason she always bucked me like she did.”

“What? Why?”

“Because after we talked for hours, she finally told me about them, and Mitch—they’re awful!” Another shudder went through her as she rubbed her arms. “There’s a total of three recurring dreams that she never wanted to tell us about because she was afraid we wouldn’t love her.”

“That’s ridiculous! Why would she think that?” He absconded with the rest of the cheesecake after she pushed it away, barely tasting it at all.

“Because they were all about how unworthy of love she was and that she was poison to anybody she loved. One was about when she was really small, hiding under a bed while a monster screamed that he was going to drown her in a river like a cat because she wasn’t worth the air that she breathed.”