Angel of the Cove by Sandra Robbins Page A

Bible ’cause I thought it was the purtiest name I’d ever heard. I don’t talk about her much. It hurts too bad.”
    Anna reached over and covered Granny’s hand with hers. “I’m sorry, Granny. I didn’t mean to bring up sad memories for you.”
    A sad smile pulled at Granny’s mouth. “That’s all right, child. I reckon I got some memories that ain’t never gonna leave me no matter what I do.”
    â€œDid you ever think about leaving the Cove after you lost your family?”
    Granny’s gaze drifted to the mountains in the distance. “Therewarn’t nowhere else for me to go. And besides, this is my home. So I stayed on here, and the good Lord’s taken care of me.”
    They shelled the peas in silence for a few minutes. It seemed strange that neither Uncle Charles or Simon had mentioned Granny had a daughter who died. Was there more to the story than Granny had told her? One glance at the sadness lining Granny’s face told her there had to be. Whatever it was, it brought great pain to Granny, and she wouldn’t question her about it again.
    There were other things she wanted to know, though, and one of them concerned Simon. She picked up several pea pods and broke one open. “I’ve wanted to ask you something else, Granny.”
    Granny glanced up, but her hands didn’t still. “What’s that?”
    â€œIt’s about Simon.” Anna cleared her throat. “It’s plain to see he’s a very educated man. I wondered why he came back here to preach instead of going somewhere else. Maybe a big city, like Knoxville.”
    A wary expression flashed across Granny’s face, and she stopped shelling peas. “Has he said somethin’ to you?”
    Anna straightened and shook her head. “Oh, no. And it’s really none of my business. I just wondered, that’s all.”
    Granny stared off into the distance for a moment before she spoke. “Simon always said he wanted to be a preacher, and his ma was determined for him to go to school. She believed God had great things planned for her boy. So Simon went to Milligan College over to Elizabethton, and he was a-makin’ it fine. Until three years ago, that is. We had us a bad epidemic of influenza in the Cove, and Simon’s ma and pa both took down with it. John, Simon’s brother, wrote him and told him they was sick. Well, Simon, he come a-runnin’ home fast as he could, but it didn’t do no good. Both of ’em died.”
    â€œI know that part. He told me. But why didn’t he go back to school?”
    â€œWe had lots of sick folks in the Cove, and me and Doc Prentiss were pert near worn out from takin’ care of everybody. Simon stayed on to help. By the time the worst had passed, it was too late for him to finish the school year. He thought he’d go back in the fall, but he didn’t.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œâ€™Cause the church here didn’t have no preacher, and the folks asked Simon to stay on ’til they found somebody. He’s been the preacher ever since.”
    â€œAnd the church members still haven’t found a replacement after three years?”
    Granny nodded. “That’s right. I reckon as time passed folks decided they wanted Simon for the preacher and didn’t bother lookin’ nowhere else for one.”
    Anna sank back in her chair and thought about what Granny had told her. She wondered how Simon felt about what had happened to him. “Granny, does Simon regret not getting to finish school?”
    A sad smile pulled at Granny’s mouth. “I ’spect that’s somethin’ you’ll have to ask him yourself. He won’t give me a straight answer ’bout it, but maybe he’ll tell you.”
    Anna shook her head and directed her attention back to the peas in her lap. “I doubt that. Like I said, it’s really not my business. I