The Color of Hope

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE





Stephanie decided she was going to Calvary Church this morning—and only because she had an attitude. She didn’t particularly want to go to church at all. Her first plan had been to stay in bed, where she could catch up on sleep she’d missed the past two nights. But instead of sleeping, she was grieving decisions she could have made. Like bringing Sam home with her when they left the Willoughbys’ so she wouldn’t have been alone the next morning. Or calling her earlier on Saturday. Or somehow forcing her to make that police statement.

Having driven herself sick with that, her mind took a different turn—to her anger at Skip Willoughby. He had actually threatened her cousin’s life with a pistol. The same man who’d called a boycott of the joint services. And helmed a family where the likes of Ben Willoughby could flourish . . . and yeah, Charley too, but no need to mellow the mental rant.

Stephanie couldn’t understand how this man had been a Calvary elder for decades. And as she thought about it, she realized that she’d never been to the church, other than to the funeral last year for Todd’s father. What was the atmosphere like? Since Skip had also helmed the church, in a sense, would his influence show? She didn’t expect him to show up, but she’d be waiting for one person to look at her crosswise for being there—just so she could blame Skip and keep her attitude.

She and Lindell walked into the sanctuary ten minutes early.

“Wow, remember the last time we were here?” Stephanie whispered. “It was packed.”

“Yeah,” Lindell said, “because members of both churches had come to pay their respects to Jim Dillon.”

“There aren’t any ushers to seat people.”

Lindell looked around. “No need.”

True. Most of the pews were only two-thirds full.

Definite second glances came their way as they walked the aisle to a seat. Well, it was a natural response. They were the only black people in the building. She didn’t count second glances as crosswise. Crosswise came with attitude.

Becca saw them from up front and waved them forward.

“Great.” Stephanie spoke under her breath. “Now we’ll really be on display.”

“Weren’t you the one who told Charley she needed to sit up front at New Jerusalem, just to make it fun?”

“Whatever.”

They slid into the second pew, directly behind Becca.

“Good morning,” Stephanie and Lindell said.

Claire turned fully around with a grin. “What are y’all doing here?”

“Joining you, Miss Claire.” Stephanie touched her nose.

Ethan stood in the pew and reached for Stephanie to pull him back there.

“Sit down, buddy,” Becca said, helping him. “You two didn’t tell us you were coming.” She sat sideways, arm draped over the back of the pew.

“It was last-minute,” Stephanie said. “Full disclosure—I came to check it out in light of everything I’m learning about Mr. Skip Willoughby. The bonus is I get to hear Todd.”

Becca gave a knowing look. “I hope Todd’s fingerprints are the ones you see here.”

A middle-aged couple came to the pew. Stephanie and Lindell turned their knees so they could get past.

When they were seated, the woman asked, “You two new in town?”

“Actually, we are, sort of.” Lindell shifted toward them. “We moved here in August.”

Stephanie waited for her to find a way to tell them they’d happened into the wrong church.

“Well, welcome to Hope Springs and Calvary,” the woman said. “I’m Rose Talcott, and this is my husband, Paul.”

Mr. Talcott rose again and shook their hands.

Lindell did the same. “Lindell London and my wife, Stephanie. Nice to meet you.”

After he’d sat back down, Lindell poked Stephanie and whispered, “That’s what you get.”

The choir entered from the back and started the service in song. Everyone stood, and Stephanie noticed that Todd had entered the pulpit area as well. They sang three hymns before Todd came to the podium. He looked like he hadn’t slept much this weekend either.

He stood in silence for a moment, looking out among them. Then he spoke. “I want to take some special time this morning to pray for the family and friends of a beautiful young girl, Samara Johnston . . .”

Stephanie nodded. What a blessing.

“I’m sure most of you heard about her very sad and tragic end yesterday,” Todd continued. “It breaks my heart when a young person—”

Voices were heard in the back of the church, growing louder.

Stephanie turned. Skip Willoughby was in the rear, resisting obvious attempts by an usher to move him toward a seat.

Skip strode to the front of the church, directly to the podium. Todd, looking calm yet assertive, shielded the microphone while they had words. Skip looked defiant, pressing his point practically in Todd’s face.

The result—Todd stepped aside. But he didn’t return to his seat.

Skip moved to the mic, clearing his throat. “Thank you, Pastor Todd, for allowing me this moment to address members of Calvary. This church has always been family to me, and family pulls together in time of need.” He looked out among them, clearly weighing his words. “I know you all heard lots of talk this weekend. People have been slandering my good name. And yes, to clear up any confusion, I was indeed arrested—for a misdemeanor, without cause . . .”

Stephanie folded her arms with a disgusted sigh.

“I’m not at all concerned about the legalities. I have no doubt my name will be cleared. What I am concerned about is the sense my family and I are getting that you may be putting stock in these claims.” His gaze was steely as he moved it from one side of the church to the other. “Don’t think we haven’t heard the whispers. But don’t forget that by law, everyone is innocent until proven guilty.”

Stephanie looked to see what response he was getting. So far . . . silence.

“Which brings me to my next point.” Skip gripped the sides of the podium. “There’s more slander afoot, about my grandson. I’m not talking about the dumb prank he pulled online. I’m talking about slander that led to his arrest this morning.”

She leaned over to Lindell. “Is he saying my statement to the police was slanderous?”

“I just left the police station,” Skip said, “and I came straight here to ask for your support in this. You will hear all manner of accusations regarding some girl.” He waved a hand as if it were trivial. “I don’t even know this girl. She’s not one of us at Calvary. In any event, I’m determined that my grandson’s entire life will not be ruined over this.”

Todd moved to the podium, ready to end it.

Skip raised a finger at him to wait. “I have one last thing to say. My father and I helped build this church. Our leadership here spans several decades. I hope and expect to have the support of every one of you as we endure a very difficult time in our family. Thank you.”

The church was silent as Skip walked back down the aisle toward the door.

“This girl Mr. Willoughby doesn’t know,” Todd said, “whom most of us don’t know, is the one we were remembering before we were interrupted—Samara Johnston. Let’s pray.”

The church doors opened and shut as Skip left.





“Kory, can you pass the mashed potatoes, please?” Stephanie said.

Kory passed the bowl to Janelle, who passed it across the table to Stephanie. Stephanie scooped some onto her plate and handed it to Lindell, who sat at one end of the table.

Lindell looked to the other end. “Marcus, can you pass the gravy when you’re done?”

“Sure thing,” Marcus said.

With frequent stops, the gravy boat moved from Marcus on down to the other end, to Charley.

Stephanie had already invited her to dinner before the events of the weekend. When Charley begged off, Stephanie told her their friendship transcended whatever happened with her and Marcus—and she planned to keep it that way.

Travis held up a serving bowl. “Anyone else want some of this cabbage?”

“I’ll take that,” Kory said. “Thanks.”

And that was about all the conversation they had. Everyone still seemed somber from the prayer over the food, which had led to a prayer in memory of Sam—that God would cause her life and story to impact the kids at school—which led to a sharing of stories about her. Stephanie was surprised by how many they had in the short time they’d known her. The only thing that got passed around the table during that time was a box of tissues.

“Mommy!” a voice called from the kitchen.

“Excuse me,” Janelle said, rising from the table. “I’ve told Tiff not to yell across rooms, especially during dinner.”

Since there were only eight chairs at the dining room table, Tiffany, Daniel, and Dee ate together in the kitchen, which they preferred. Said they liked having their own conversation.

Janelle returned to her place next to Kory, just as the front door opened and closed.

Libby appeared, looking cute in a straight skirt and wrap top. She smiled. “I see my timing’s perfect. I’m starving.”

The men voiced greetings while the women got up to hug her.

“You snuck up on us,” Janelle said.

“But it was a nice surprise sneak,” Stephanie said.

Stephanie got Libby a plate while she went to wash her hands. When she returned, she assessed the table. There was one open seat—and it was next to Travis.

Stephanie watched as she took the spot, making friendly conversation with Marcus on her end of the table.

“Thanks,” Libby said, as a steady flow of food was passed down to her. “Shades of Grandma Geri. This looks delicious.”

“Janelle’s trying to step into Grandma’s shoes,” Stephanie said. “You should see her. Cooking’s her new love. Either that or she’s trying to make sure Kory doesn’t go anywhere.”

Kory smiled. “I don’t think she’s worried about that.”

He and Janelle stole a glance at one another.

Stephanie was eyeing them. “Okay. What?”

They looked at each other again, Janelle’s eyes questioning. Kory gave her a nod.

“Well,” Janelle said, “we had actually planned to get married yesterday.”

All eyes were definitely on them now.

“After talking with Libby last time she was here, then talking with Kory, we decided to go with the original ‘just us’ wedding—with the kids, of course—and we’d already scheduled a time to meet Travis at the church yesterday afternoon.” She glanced over at her pastor. “But when everything unfolded . . .”

Libby served herself a helping of roast beef. “Wow. You would’ve been Mr. and Mrs. right now.”

“Secret wedding, huh?” Marcus said.

“I don’t know if it was secret so much as you weren’t invited,” Stephanie said. “Hold up . . . or me, for that matter.” She narrowed her eyes at Janelle and Kory. “How y’all gonna have a ‘just us’ wedding in this family? That’s not gonna work.”

“Works just fine.” Libby was spooning potatoes. “I encouraged her to do it. We can celebrate with them afterward.”

“You can celebrate with them afterward.” Stephanie pointed her fork at them. “I’ll be watching. And if I see the two of you and three little people sneaking off, I’m following. It’ll be a ‘just us and Stephanie’ wedding.”

Janelle laughed. “At this rate, maybe we’ll be married by spring.”

“What made you show up out of the blue today, Libby?” Marcus said.

“Exactly what Janelle was referring to,” Libby said. “Everything that happened this weekend. She filled me in, and I was devastated. I had to come.” She looked at Marcus. “How are you feeling? I can’t imagine my life being threatened like that.”

Marcus glanced at Charley, who was focused on her plate.

“When I think about what happened with Sam,” he said, “I can get over a gun in my face. Not that I’m dropping charges. If nothing else, Skip Willoughby needs to learn he can’t go around bullying people.”

“Oh my goodness, that reminds me.” Libby had forked up some food but set it back down. “Aunt Gwynn said back in the day, Skip Willoughby paid a visit to Todd’s granddad and made it known that there would be consequences if the relationship between Aunt Gwynn and Jim didn’t end.”

“What? That’s the exact same thing he did with us,” Marcus said.

Charley looked sick.

“When did you talk to Aunt Gwynn?” Stephanie said.

“Oh. Yeah. Haven’t filled you in yet.” Libby looked around Travis to see Stephanie better. “I spent an impromptu weekend in Jersey and really bonded with them. I’ll tell you more later, but, wow, I hadn’t put her story together with Marcus’s until just now.”

“I know it might seem like a small thing,” Stephanie said, “but I’m still bothered by the flippant way he regarded Sam during the service.”

Stephanie had shared it earlier with the others and filled Libby in now.

Her frustration was palpable. “I mean, it was like she was nothing,” Stephanie said. “Makes me so sad when I think of how special she was and how no one seemed to treat her that way, even now. When people think of her, it’ll be about the girl no one knew or the girl in the video or the girl who committed suicide.” She sighed. “I don’t want her to be remembered like that.”

“Then change the story,” Libby said.

“What do you mean?”

Libby sipped her lemonade. “We talk about it in our planning meetings. When people leave our events, we want them telling the story we want them to tell. So we supply the right touches that leave an impression.” She paused, thinking. “In this case, I could see you maybe writing about who she really was, an article for the school newspaper, a blog, anything. It would not only change the narrative that’s out there; it could be healing as well.”

As her thoughts churned, Libby spoke faster. “Janelle said Sam went to Bible study with you all. It would be powerful if you brought Jesus into it that way—taking it to another level. You could honor her memory and also point people to Christ.”

Libby got some surprised looks for that one too.

Stephanie cocked her head on an elbow. “Okay, so that’s what you’ve been up to all this time you’ve been away? Getting deep and spiritual?”

“I don’t know about deep,” Libby said, “but it’s probably time to share with you all that there’s been a definite change.” Libby took a breath. “I’ve committed my life to Jesus, and I started attending church in Raleigh. Came straight from there to here today.”

There seemed to be a delayed reaction. Then everyone jumped up at once to hug her.

Travis was last. He stood and spoke so no one else heard. Libby stared hard at him, then left an almost full plate and walked with him out the back door.