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  “Well, now.” Pastor Tim looked from one to the other. “I thought it best if we talk this through together before we decide what the next step is.”

  Annabel’s face was white. “Is there any choice? Don’t I have to go to Kyle’s parents?”

  Travis swallowed hard. He’d put that look on her face. This was his responsibility.

  “That wouldn’t be right,” he said, looking at the wall of books behind Pastor Tim’s desk because it hurt too much to look at Annabel. “I’m the one who spoke to Kyle. Annabel tried to stop me. I’m the one who is responsible, not her.”

  “It’s my program.” Her voice was firm. “I’m responsible for everything that happens there.”

  Pastor Tim cleared his throat, bringing their attention to him. “Let’s not be hasty. We’re here to talk about the possibilities, not to lay or accept blame.”

  “I don’t want Annabel hurt by something I did.”

  Pastor Tim focused on Travis’s face, but Travis had the feeling the man looked into his very soul. It was an uncomfortable sensation. It took an effort not to turn away from that probing gaze.

  “I understand,” the pastor said. “Now, let’s look at what can happen. If Kyle tells his parents, I think we can expect them to react strongly.”

  “That’s putting it mildly. I’ve been jumping every time the phone rings, sure they’ll be calling.” Annabel’s hands twisted together in her lap, a sign of distress he’d learned to recognize.

  “They haven’t?” Pastor Tim asked.

  “No. Not yet.”

  “If they do, I would imagine they’ll be angry. I don’t want you to deal with that alone, Annabel. If they contact you, you should insist that they meet with the two of us to discuss this.”

  For a moment, Annabel looked as if she’d argue the point, but then she nodded, silently agreeing with the pastor. “They’ll be angry,” she said. “I can’t blame them for that. Maybe angry enough to go to the board.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Pastor Tim said. “You know I’ll support you with the board, don’t you?”

  She nodded. “Thank you,” she murmured.

  Travis couldn’t stand it any longer. “You have to let me talk to them, if it comes to that. They can’t dismiss all the good Annabel does with those kids because I felt I had to confront Kyle.”

  Pastor Tim studied him. Had Annabel told him what he’d revealed about his childhood? His face burned at the thought. He didn’t tell people. He’d wiped that part of his life out. But he’d told Annabel.

  “As I said, let’s not leap ahead of ourselves. Now, I’ve been giving this a lot of thought since Annabel called me yesterday. And I’ve been giving it a lot of time in prayer.” He closed his eyes for a moment, as if he still prayed. “It seems to me that the answer I’m getting is clear. Wait.”

  “Wait?” Annabel’s voice expressed dismay. “Pastor, I’d rather just get this over with. I can’t—”

  She stopped when he raised his hand. His lips curved in a faint smile.

  “I know. That’s my reaction, too. Rush in and try to make it better. I have to admit that I’ve been arguing with God about this.”

  “Well, then…” She let that taper off.

  “If we rush in, we may precipitate something. It may be that God has something else in mind. Sometimes the hardest thing we can do is wait for Him.”

  The words seemed to sink into Travis’s heart, setting up an echo that reverberated through him. “I didn’t wait. That hasn’t turned out very well.”

  “We don’t know that yet,” Pastor Tim said. “We’re assuming Kyle will tell his parents, and then they’ll react. But what if he doesn’t?”

  Annabel stared at him, forehead crinkled. “I don’t understand. If he doesn’t, don’t we have a duty to tell them?”

  “We have a duty to do what’s best for that boy. If Kyle doesn’t tell his parents, I’m beginning to think that in itself may tell us something.” He paused, clasping his hands on the surface of the desk. “I think it might tell us that Travis’s suspicions are correct.”

  Silence greeted his words. Travis didn’t know about Annabel, but he’d been stunned into silence. He had never thought of that, but the more he looked at it, the surer he became. Pastor Tim was right. The natural thing to do was for Kyle to run to his parents with Travis’s accusation. If he didn’t, it had to mean something.

  “I’m assuming by your silence that you agree—or at least that you’ll go along with me on this.” Pastor Tim looked at Annabel.

  After a long moment, she nodded. “I’ll follow your lead. But if we don’t hear any response from them, then what will we do?”

  “I don’t know. It may be that we’ll have to consult Children’s Services. Or we may find that Travis’s words will open Kyle to talk to us. Either way, we’ll find our way through this, with God’s help. Agreed?”

  Travis waited for Annabel.

  “Agreed,” she said.

  Pastor Tim looked at him, and he nodded.

  “Let’s pray together.” Pastor Tim held out his hands to them.

  Travis took the pastor’s extended hand and then reached out tentatively to Annabel. She put her hand in his.

  “Gracious Lord, we know that You see all of Your children as precious. We come to You agreeing in prayer for Kyle, knowing that You want nothing but good for him. We ask that we might be Your humble instruments to do Your will in Kyle’s life.”

  Travis’s breath caught in his throat. His heart hurt, as if something real and physical affected it as a result of the pastor’s prayer.

  “Use us as You will, dear Father. We know that You have work for us to do in this world, and we want only to serve You. In Jesus’s precious name we pray. Amen.”

  “Amen,” Annabel said softly.

  He wanted to do the same, but he’d choke if he tried to speak. Something was happening to him. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew it was changing him forever.

  Chapter Seven

  Two days had gone by, and nothing had happened. Travis had been trying to steer clear of Annabel, figuring that was the least he could do for her. But Miz Callie dropped by the house, determined that he go with her to the dress rehearsal for the Living Nativity. So here he was, suiting his long strides to the elderly woman’s steps as they walked down the block toward the church.

  “…know how much help you’ve been to Annabel with getting the animals ready for this.” Miz Callie looked up at him with that pert, birdlike gaze. “I’m sure she’ll need all the helping hands she can get tonight.”

  “I’m glad to help.” Except that according to Annabel, his help might well have wrecked her program. Had Kyle said anything to his parents? He didn’t know, and if Annabel did, she hadn’t confided in him.

  Would she have talked to her grandmother? From what he could see, they were very close, but surely Miz Callie wouldn’t be acting so friendly toward him if Annabel had told her what he’d done.

  “This event means so much to Annabel.” Miz Callie’s steps slowed a bit. Maybe he’d been walking too fast for her. “I do believe she’s been tryin’ to find a way to repay Pastor Tim for helping her through a bad time a couple of years ago.” Again, that gaze was fixed on him. “Did Luke tell you about the wedding?”

  “Not Luke. Annabel mentioned it.”

  “She did?” Miz Callie’s expression seemed to speculate on that.

  “Not much,” he said hurriedly. “Just that she was supposed to be married at Christmastime, and the guy broke it off.”

  “Christmas Eve. That’s when the wedding was to be. And the night before, after the rehearsal, he told her he wasn’t ready to get married.”

  “I’m sorry.” The words seemed inadequate.

  “Mind now, I never did think that Foster Sharrow was the right man for her at all. But being left that way really shook Annabel. It seemed to drive her right into her shell.” Miz Callie put her hand on his arm, halting him as they neared th
e churchyard. “I’m glad you’re here this Christmas, Travis. Seems to me it’s been good for her to be busy with entertaining you. Keeps her from brooding on the past.” She shook her head. “The past is for learning from, not for living in. But I guess every generation has to find that out for themselves.”

  Before he could find a response to that, she’d moved briskly on toward the makeshift stable.

  He followed her, struggling with himself. Annabel’s good deed in entertaining him this Christmas was in danger of costing her the thing she valued most in the world. If Kyle had complained about him—

  Well, whether the boy had or not, he’d handled it badly. He couldn’t seem to forget the pastor’s words about waiting for God. If God was indeed using them as His tools—

  He backed away from that thought. If God was looking for someone to accomplish things, He surely wouldn’t pick Travis McCall.

  Annabel was a far more likely choice. A cold hand seemed to grip his heart. Annabel might not want to have anything to do with him, but at least he had to tell her how sorry he was that she was hurt by what he’d done.

  He drew closer, scanning the crowd. Kids in costumes scurried around, and a choir was rehearsing off to one side. Hugh seemed to be testing the stability of the stable they’d worked on together a few days ago.

  He spotted Kyle, tussling with a couple of other boys. He was bundled up to the neck in a shepherd’s robe. If there were any bruises on Kyle, no one would see them in that outfit.

  An outraged bray helped him locate Annabel. She’d pulled the truck and trailer into the side street, and Toby seemed no more eager to get off the trailer than he had been to get on that first time Travis had met Annabel. Travis trotted across the lawn.

  He seized the opposite side of the halter and helped Annabel ease Toby down the ramp. She looked flushed and flustered, and for a moment when she glanced at him across the donkey’s back, her eyes were laughing again.

  “Didn’t we do this once before?” he asked.

  She nodded, seemed about to speak, but then the barriers went up again and she froze.

  He reached across Toby’s back to catch her arm. “Wait, Annabel. Just let me say one thing. I’m sorry. I was wrong. If I can do anything to make it right, I will.”

  She took a deep breath. Some of the tension seemed to ease out of her face. “So far it looks as if Kyle hasn’t said anything to his parents.” She hesitated and then managed a tentative smile. “I understand why it happened, Travis.”

  She looked as if she’d say more, but Pastor Tim started calling her name. She spun away from Travis, handing him the donkey’s lead line. “Hold him for a minute, will you? I’ve got to see what’s going on.”

  She hurried away to be met by three or four people who all seemed to have questions for her, to say nothing of the kids who gathered around when they saw her. Annabel had a smile and a greeting for each of them, her hand resting lightly on one child’s shoulder while she hugged another and explained something to one of the adults.

  He patted the donkey absently, trying to get rid of the feeling that someone was trampling on his heart. But he couldn’t. He cared for Annabel—cared big time. And he didn’t know what he was going to do about it.

  Annabel’s mind seemed to split into two competing halves as the rehearsal straggled onward, part of her attention focused on the rehearsal, but the rest was on the issue with Kyle. To say nothing of her heart, aching for Travis.

  Enough, she scolded herself. Focus.

  Amanda was corralling the children, sorting them into groups according to their roles. Annabel couldn’t help smiling. Now that she was engaged, Amanda had developed an increased interest in children, maybe looking ahead to the family she and Ross would have one day.

  She joined Sam, who had the animals in a makeshift pen, ready to go.

  “I still say we shoulda brought some chickens,” Sam said. “Stands to reason they’d have had chickens, don’t you think?”

  “The last thing we need is to try and hang on to a bunch of chickens in this situation,” she said. “Watch it, you’re about to lose a sheep.”

  Sam caught the ewe. Miz Callie grasped a small angel whose efforts to pet the sheep had startled it.

  “Sorry about that.” She turned the child around and gave her a gentle shove. “You get on over with the other angels, y’heah?”

  “Yes, ma’am, Miz Callie. Can I pet the sheep after?”

  “We’ll see. If Annabel says it’s okay. Go on now.”

  The angel departed, wings askew, with a wistful look at the sheep.

  “Gracious, those children are a handful,” Miz Callie said. “They’re already excited enough about Christmas, and you add in some real animals and they’re about fit to burst. Looks like Travis isn’t quite ready to hand the donkey over to that young Joseph.”

  “Not until the last possible moment, I hope,” Annabel said.

  She still didn’t have complete confidence in Toby. She let her gaze linger on Travis. He had a grip on the donkey’s halter while he gave some quiet directions to the young teenager who was dressed as Joseph.

  Just looking at him made her heart clutch, knowing the pain that lurked behind his stoic facade. What he’d told her about his childhood was bad enough, and she didn’t doubt that there was plenty he hadn’t said.

  The wonder was that he’d stuck around the farm at all once he’d learned that some of her kids were abuse victims. It had taken courage to hang in there, but Travis had plenty of that.

  Angry as she’d been over his action in questioning Kyle, she understood why he’d done it. Looking at the boy was like looking at himself.

  “There, now.” Miz Callie rejoined her. “All the angels are in their places.”

  “For the moment,” Annabel said.

  The plan was to have the participants arrive at the stable as the choir sang and then to stay in their positions for the better part of an hour, while people drove or walked past.

  “I remember being an angel. The halo itched something fierce, and it was all I could do to stay still.”

  “You did it, though.” Miz Callie had a reminiscent smile. “I remember one year when it seemed half the cast was made up of Bodines. Then the boys got big enough to rebel at the idea of wearing costumes.”

  “I think they secretly enjoyed it, but they’d never admit that.”

  The choir began to sing. It was time for Mary and Joseph to arrive on the scene. She held her breath and Joseph started forward, holding the lead rope…a real rope, instead of the synthetic lead lines she normally used.

  Toby walked forward obediently for several paces. Then, apparently seeing something that interested him, he veered off to the right, taking Joseph and Mary with him.

  Annabel started toward them but stopped before she’d gone more than a few steps. Travis was there already, getting Toby back on course, showing the boy how to keep the donkey headed in the right direction.

  She let out a breath of relief. Miz Callie nodded approvingly.

  “That Travis is a man a person can depend on,” she said. “Guess you’ve already found that out, since you told him about Foster.”

  “How do you know that?” she demanded. Really, Miz Callie had an uncanny knack for knowing what her family was up to.

  “Well, I thought maybe Luke had told him, but he said you did.”

  Which still didn’t explain why the subject had come up to begin with. “You’re not trying to matchmake, are you? Because it’s not going to work.”

  Miz Callie just smiled.

  The shepherds were headed toward the stable with their sheep, and Annabel watched Kyle. His face was intent and serious but not sullen or rebellious.

  Surely Travis was mistaken about the boy. She went over the arguments again in her mind, unable to let it go. Travis could be wrong. But if he wasn’t…

  The three kings set off toward the stable, leading the llama who was standing in for a camel. All went well until they reached the manger,
where the kings went down on their knees to worship the Baby Jesus. The llama, suddenly presented with a gold foil crown right in front of his nose, decided to see if it was something edible, which naturally had all the kids dissolving in laughter and shouting except for the unfortunate king.

  Darting forward, Annabel grabbed the llama and rescued the crown.

  “There, good as new.” She handed it back. “Everything’s fine now.”

  “Except for the donkey,” Amanda pointed out. “He seems to have his nose in the manger.”

  “Remind me again why I got involved in this?” she muttered. She grabbed Toby. Catching sight of Kyle and Charlie, she beckoned to them.

  “Listen, you two know Toby. How about if you take charge of him once you get up here, okay? Can I count on you?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Kyle straightened. “We can handle him.”

  “Good.” She smiled at him. “Tomorrow night I’ll have a little bag of oats for you, and you can feed him if he gets fidgety, okay?”

  “We’ll do it,” Charlie assured her. “Leave it to us.”

  “Good job.” She stepped back out of the scene, still smiling. Travis was wrong about Kyle, she told herself again. He had to be.

  “Okay, everyone, that’s perfect,” Amanda said. “Now freeze like that.” She glanced at Annabel. “What’s the old saying? A bad dress rehearsal means a good performance? I sure hope that’s right.”

  “It’ll be fine,” Annabel assured her. “And if it’s not perfect, people will love it anyway.”

  “True enough. Okay, everyone.” Annabel raised her voice. “That’s it for now. Remember to be on time tomorrow, and don’t forget your costume.”

  The manger scene dissolved suddenly, and for the next few minutes, Annabel, along with Travis and Sam, was completely occupied in collecting the animals. She was vaguely aware of parents arriving to pick up children, Amanda collecting props and Miz Callie comforting an angel who was crying, it seemed, over a broken wing.