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There were cars on both sides of the road in front of Pastor Garnet’s house as they pulled out on the street. Doyle didn’t want Olive to have to walk so far, but he was sure if he let her out, she wasn’t going to leave without the baby at least, which would defeat the purpose of him helping her. So he parked his car as close as he could.

“This seems like a popular destination.”

“Well, there’s not much going on in small towns, but I’ve heard really good things about the Bible study, and I know Pastor Garnet does an excellent job.”

“Perhaps because he’s your future brother-in-law, you have a bias?” Doyle glanced over at her, and she looked a little sheepish.

“Perhaps.”

He was teasing her, and she knew it, and something had gone through the air between them that was more than words. He loved that little bit of communication without having to say anything at all. He felt that with other people at times, but there was just something about Olive that made him feel like she actually knew him, or cared about him, or something. She did it again today when she had made the eggs the way she knew he liked them. It had been years since she had cooked for him, and even then, she hadn’t done it much. They’d never lived together. But maybe she just noticed the way he’d ordered them when they’d gone out. Whatever it was, however she did it, she took the time to remember, and he appreciated that. It made him feel like she cared.

And he shouldn’t do that. That way lay hurt. At least that was what his brain was trying to say.

They walked up on the porch, with him carrying the baby and her carrying the fruit salad.

“Olive! I’m so glad you could make it,” Mertie said, coming over and giving her sister a hug. “It was so kind of you to bring her,” Mertie murmured to him, and he almost thought that perhaps she was seeing the same thing he was, that Olive wasn’t well.

“Glad you can make it,” Dominic said, coming over to shake his hand. Dominic was a deacon at the church and had been instrumental in getting Pastor Garnet to come.

“Where’s your wife? And your six kids?” Doyle couldn’t help but add that last part, along with the number. He knew that Dominic couldn’t really believe that he actually had six children. After years of his wife and him thinking that they weren’t going to have any more after their only son died, God had abundantly blessed them.

“One of the kids is sick, and we didn’t want to bring him to potentially spread it to everyone else. I was going to stay home and let Vera come, but she insisted.” He held up his hands like he had nothing to do with it. “Far be it for me to argue with a sleep-deprived mom of twins.”

“I’ll take your word on that, hopefully never learning from experience,” Doyle said, only half joking. He did want to have children someday. A few, not just one, but preferably one at a time.

He watched as Olive chatted with a few other ladies and then made her way to the step where she sat down with the car seat sitting on the porch beside and a little bit behind her.

Livvy had fallen asleep, and he assumed that she was probably going to stay that way throughout the entire study.

He wanted to go over and sit down beside her, hold her hand, even sit behind her and cradle her between his legs, but they didn’t have that kind of relationship.

Not anymore.

“All right, I think all the food is here, so we’re able to get started,” Pastor Garnet said, amid the laughter of everyone. Then they quieted down, and he continued. “Let’s pray first.”

He said a short prayer for the food and for the lesson while the porch was silent other than the soft breeze that blew over everyone.

“Amen. You all can grab something to eat if you haven’t. I’m gonna say a few words while you do so.” Most everyone had gotten food, but there were a few who stood at his invitation while he continued to talk. “We’re out of Deuteronomy, and we’re starting Joshua today. I read this earlier and couldn’t help but smile, because it contains one of my favorite verses. Joshua 1:8. ‘This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou may observe to do according to all that is written therein...’”

He put a hand on his Bible. “We’ll read the entire chapter here in a minute, but I just wanted to talk about that verse for a moment, because I think it’s one of the most important verses in the Bible. There is a premise at the end, and if you are following along in your Bible, you could see that I didn’t read it. But God promises that if Joshua does what He commands, He will make his way prosperous and he will have good success. He’s talking about conquering Canaan. That’s where his way will be prosperous and he will have good success.”

He paused for a moment as though gathering his thoughts. “In the Bible, Canaan represents the promised land, of course, but the part that needs to be conquered represents sin. There were people there doing all kinds of wicked things, things that we in our modern sensitivities can barely even imagine. We think we’re so new and progressive by encouraging sodomy and promiscuity and lasciviousness, but trust me, it was all going on back then as well. We’re not as suave and sophisticated as we like to believe.”

He shook his head. “But that’s not really what I wanted to say. I wanted to point out that God gives a recipe for success. A recipe for being able to conquer sin. Being able to eradicate it and get it out of your life. That’s what they were going to do with the people who inhabited Canaan. They were going to eradicate them and get them completely out.”

He paused for a moment, as though thinking about how he was going to phrase this next bit, and then he spoke. “Right there, that verse, it says that we should meditate on God’s word day and night. It should be in our mouth continually. I think this Bible study is good, and I can’t take credit for starting it, so don’t think that I am. But when Homer and Skyler decided to read the Bible through and to do a little bit every day, I think they were on the exact right path that a person needs to do in order to eradicate sin from their life.” He held his Bible up and waved it carefully. “This book is powerful. It’s God’s word. How could it not be? And how could we not infuse that power into our very souls if we read it, think about it, and try to understand it on a daily basis?”

He put the Bible back in his lap as everyone sat quietly, the lake breeze blowing over them, ruffling a few pages, allowing hair and clothes to blow, warming in the morning summer sun.

“So often we think we’re too busy. We think we don’t have time. We think we’ll catch up tomorrow, or we’ll do it later, and then a few days slip into a week, and before we know it, it’s been months or years since we opened our Bible. And things that we used to think were wrong don’t seem so wrong anymore. That’s the way sin is. I don’t know about you, but when I look in the Bible, and I see God talk about sin, I think the devil is going to show up with his pitchfork and his horns and I’m going to be able to see that sin, and I’m going to take a big stand against it,” he said, using his voice’s inflection to emphasize his words. “But sin isn’t like that. It’s just a little bit, just little, often deceptive, and happens on a day-by-day basis. We make a decision to do something we want to do, and we don’t know or don’t care the Bible tells us it’s wrong. That decision leads to another decision, and that decision doesn’t seem wrong either. I don’t think our country would be in the state that it was in if we hadn’t left off reading our Bibles on a daily basis, teaching it in school, and staying away from sin.”

He paused for a moment, and then he said, “I don’t want to get political, but I don’t think abortion is a political issue. I think it’s a moral one. A lot of the things that we think of as political issues are moral issues. Sodomy for example. That’s not a political issue. It’s a moral issue. God clearly denounces it and commands us to do so as well. It’s the same for abortion. The ten commandments say thou shall not kill. In the Psalms, David said you formed me in my mother’s womb. Obviously God was forming him in his womb before he was born. When is a baby a human? I don’t know. I’m not a scientist, although it doesn’t seem to matter what science says anymore. Regardless, whether a baby has a soul at conception, or whether it’s a week before they’re born, do you want to mess up and accidentally kill a human being? Do you want to take that chance?”

He took a breath.

“I’m going to get off my soapbox, but I think the more we’re in this book, the more we understand how the world is, and how they try to justify what they do, and it sounds okay. But as for me, I will never, ever vote for anyone who thinks abortion is okay. I do not want to be complicit in that sin. I don’t care what the rest of their agenda is, I will sit out an election before I cast a single vote that might allow a baby to die on my watch. And I’m fighting to make sure my tax dollars aren’t being used to fund a procedure that I feel is murder. That God says is murder.”

He seemed to deflate a little. “I’m sorry, I get a little fired up about sin. That’s just an example of how we leave the Bible and start to think that sin isn’t that bad. That we can vote for someone who murders babies and it’s okay. But the idea is God wants us to be in the Bible every day. And we think other things are more important. They aren’t. There is nothing more important than being in your Bible on a daily basis, yourself. With others if you want, but every day. You should be there. And if you are, God promises that you will prosper and have good success against sin. It’s not talking about monetary success, which may or may not happen. It’s talking about success against sin. Against the forces that would try to take you out of the battle for good and right. Because, folks, there is a battle.”

He opened his Bible. “All right, let’s start reading from verse one. As always, read as much as you feel comfortable with, and if you don’t want to read, just motion to the person beside you, and they’ll pick up. And don’t worry about butchering the words, because I butcher them too.” He grinned, and everyone laughed.

They started reading, and Doyle was surprised at how much he had enjoyed the study by the time they were done. Pastor Garnet didn’t drag it out, but he did give some pertinent information and gave him some things to think about. It was interesting to read the Bible, to have some new things pointed out, and to see the old familiar words that hadn’t changed over his lifetime. And it was especially good to remember how important it was to stay in the Book, since evil was all around them.

“All right, folks. That’s it for today. But Mertie, Dabney, and I do have an announcement.” He paused while the ladies he had named came up and stood on either side of him, and he put an arm around both of them and drew them near.

“Mertie and I are going to get married, and we’re going to do that this Friday afternoon at the personal care center where Pastor Calvin and his wife live. They’re going to perform the ceremony. Weather permitting, it’s going to be outside. If not, we have permission to use their auditorium. You all are invited. If you bring food, we’ll eat. If you don’t, we won’t, but I felt like it was important to have Pastor Calvin there, since he and his wife had so much influence on Mertie’s and Dabney’s and my lives.”

Applause rang out, and happy congratulations rang in the air.

“And then the week after that, he’s going to marry us.” Hobert stood up with his arm around Amara. Doyle wasn’t sure that any woman could smile any bigger than what she was as she looked around the group and then glanced lovingly up at her husband-to-be. “That’s going to happen at the church, and everyone here is invited. It’s not going to be formal, and the same rules about food apply.” Hobert grinned, and everyone laughed.

Two weddings after so many years of not even one. That was great for the town of Raspberry Ridge, but it made Doyle reflect on his life, thinking that if he would have had his way, Olive and he would be celebrating eight or ten years of married life.

He knew that most people would say that they had been too young to get married, but he felt like it wasn’t really about age, it was more about beliefs and commitment.

It didn’t matter though. Those years were past, and he wasn’t any closer to getting married now than he had been in the years since.

“If it’s okay with you, I’d really like to go to both of those weddings. They’re my sisters. I know I just started—”

“You’d already asked for Friday. The two of us can go together, since I was going to take you to take your car back. And then, we’ll just plan on doing it again next Friday, only not driving so far.”

He wanted to do more with her, wanted to spend time with her, wanted to get to know her again, but he needed to stop pushing. That was all well and good, after he just insisted they were going to spend the next two Fridays together.

“How are things going with the twins, Dominic?” Hobert asked as Doyle and Olive stood up to leave.

He listened to Dominic talk about how difficult it was to have six children and how much fun it had been as well. It seemed like their house was bursting with life and love and happiness, and he’d never seen his wife Vera look better. He did say something about the grocery bill killing him.

“Are you ready?” Doyle said softly to Olive as she picked up the car seat. Livvy hadn’t stirred.

He wanted to get her out of there though, because she looked exhausted. White as a sheet and she seemed to be trembling, although it could have been his imagination.

“Here, I’ll carry her,” he said after she nodded at him. “I’m going to grab the fruit salad bowl too. It looked to me like it was empty when I went up to get a drink just before we started.”

She nodded. The fact that she looked terrible and she didn’t give him any grief about carrying the baby concerned him.

He needed to look up malaria and see exactly how long it was supposed to be before a person got over it. Or maybe it was just the fact that she had been sick and her body needed to rest and recover, but instead she had been traveling the world and taking care of her little one and worried because she had no money and no job.

They walked to the car in silence, and he tried hard to resist the urge to put his arm around her and tell her to lean on him.

Instead, after they had gotten in the car and started toward home, he said, “I think it might be a good idea for you to lie down when we get home. You look tired, and you’ve been through a lot the last few months.”

“I’m fine. I’ll feel a lot better once we get out and I can stretch my legs some.”

He didn’t know how that had anything to do with anything, but he didn’t argue with her. As he pulled into the drive, it was almost déjà vu all over again. Since Cassie was standing on the porch and seemed like she was waiting for them.

Olive stiffened, there was no doubt about it, but she didn’t say anything. She silently got out, and for the first time, she beat him to the back door and unhooked the car seat herself.

He was waiting as she backed out of the door, and he closed it before taking the car seat from her.

He put his hand on it, and she met his gaze and held it for several seconds.

She didn’t say anything, and he didn’t either. Was she going to allow him to carry it? Or was she going to demand that she did?

Finally, after several long moments, she pulled her hand away. Her face seemed to have some kind of pasty sweat breaking out on it, and he wanted to insist again that she go lie down.

“I have lunch in the oven. It’ll be ready right at noon. And I made a list of all the groceries that I’m going to need, and if you don’t mind, I’m going to borrow your car and get them right now. That way, I’ll be home in plenty of time to cook supper.” Cassie spoke from the porch where she waved her phone around. He assumed that that meant the list was on it.

“When we talked, I said you would do the cleaning and Olive would do the cooking. That’s if you stay.”

“I’m staying. And I have the cooking under control, so Olive doesn’t need to.” She lifted her shoulder and then stepped down off the porch. “Just keep an eye on the oven. I have it turned down low, and there shouldn’t be any problems, but just in case I get held up in town, don’t forget about it.”

He wasn’t sure what to say. He wanted to tell her that he didn’t need her at all, but seeing how terrible Olive looked, he knew she couldn’t handle any cleaning, and he wasn’t quite sure whether she would be able to handle the cooking either.

Instead, when Cassie came over to him and held her hand out for his keys, perhaps against his better judgment, he dug them out of his pocket and set them in her hand.

“I can either pay for them myself, or you can give me your credit card. It’s up to you. I’ll give you a bill later.”

“You can bill me later, but Olive and I already went shopping for the next three days, and we’re covered. There isn’t any need for you to go.”

“There are some things in the kitchen I need but don’t have. I guess she doesn’t know what staples you should stock the kitchen with.”

“I hadn’t known what the kitchen had when I went shopping.” It was the first Olive had spoken since Bible study, and he winced at how weak her voice sounded. Maybe the morning with cooking and caring for the baby and then going to Bible study was just too much.

“She’s right. I asked her to cook for me and took her shopping before she even saw my kitchen. So, you can keep the slams to yourself.” He paused for a moment, and then, remembering what Olive had said the night before and hoping to head some of that off, he continued, “I’ll let you stay. You can clean, and you can cook when Olive is not up to it, because she’s recovering from having a baby and from being sick. But if you’re going to have little underhanded insults and constantly try to undermine her position here, you’re going to go.” He didn’t like to be unkind, and he didn’t want to be mean, but at the same time, he wasn’t going to accept Cassie’s insults and complaints.

That was not going to make a very harmonious household, and Olive didn’t have the strength to defend herself.

“I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just if you guys already went shopping, there’s more things that need to be bought.” She didn’t apologize, and she didn’t look the slightest bit upset, just defensive.

Part of him said that he probably should get rid of her now, part of him wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. It’s what he would want done for him. Maybe she was just afraid that she wasn’t going to get the job and she felt like she needed to show how she was superior to her competition.

“Come on, let’s go.” He spoke to Olive, and that time, he really did put his arm around her, and either she was okay with it or she was too tired or weak to fight him, because she didn’t try to shrug it off but instead allowed him to help her balance as they walked up the stairs. He set the car seat down in order for him to open the door.

“Maybe I will go ahead and lie down for a little bit if that’s okay. She did say she had lunch in the oven.” Olive’s voice came out just barely above a whisper as he closed the door and set the car seat down.

“Do you mind carrying her to my room?” She didn’t say she was too weak to do that, she just asked for a favor.

“How about I leave her out here with me? If she wakes up, tell me what to do.”

She paused, her eyes half closed and downcast as she seemed to consider his request.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” she said, and when he shook his head, she gave him the instructions to make the bottle of formula, telling him how much Livvy usually drank.

“Be sure to burp her. She’s burping some on her own, but if you don’t, she’ll get a bellyache.”

“Got it. Bellyache bad. Burping good.”

She huffed out a breath, although her smile was so faint he almost missed it. “I’m sorry. I thought I was going to bounce back a little faster than what I have. The last few days have been pretty jam-packed full, and I think it’s just caught up with me.”

“Go take a rest. I’ll watch Livvy, and you need to sleep.”

“You’re probably better off hiring Cassie. She doesn’t have to sleep in the middle of the day. Wait. It’s not the middle of the day. I haven’t even made it to lunchtime yet.”

“It’s okay. This is just a little bit of someone taking care of you in order for you to get better. How can you expect to do that when you have to do everything yourself?”

She looked at him, almost as though she were trying to understand what he said and formulate an answer.

“Go to bed. You can argue with me when you get up.”

At this point, he almost welcomed her arguments, just to show that she was feeling okay.

He watched her walk away, seeing that she opened the door he assigned to her last night as her bedroom and disappeared inside.

He looked down at the baby, sleeping soundly in the car seat. He had never taken care of a baby before. And now, he had volunteered to take care of this one. What had he been thinking?

Well, if he had any questions, he knew how to use the internet, and he supposed he could probably find the answers. For now, he wasn’t going to borrow trouble. She was sleeping, and he hoped she stayed that way. If not, he would deal with it.