Earthly Vows by Patricia Hickman

siren. Angel walked into the living room and collected him from the sofa. The side
     of his face was red and damp from spit, his right cheek dimpled from the woolen sofa threads.
    Claudia stood staring out the front living-room window at the cattle eating breakfast from the yellow grass. She seemed unaware
     of John’s cries.

    The arduous drive back to Ardmore caused Fern to retreat into a book. Donna made a bed on the backseat. Her breath became
     rhythmic as sleep overtook her.
    “I hope that all of the kids we left on your mother’s doorstep haven’t been too much for her,” said Jeb.
    “I couldn’t tell if she cared or not,” said Fern. “She’s hard to read.”
    Jeb pulled into a filling station to fuel up. The evening porch light was left on, giving the lot a jaundiced cast. Inside
     the station, the attendant read the morning paper. He pulled down his feet from the desktop when he saw Jeb waving from his
     car. He came out and offered to fill the tank.
    Jeb slipped back into the car. Fern marked her book with a crocheted marker and slid it under the seat. She laid her head
     against the seat and fixed her eyes ahead.
    The attendant washed the window in front of her and smiled in at Fern. She managed a faint smile and then closed her eyes.
    “You haven’t asked me about my meeting with Henry after the dinner yesterday. Do you want to know anything at all?” asked
     Jeb.
    “I do, Jeb. This is all so fast, that’s all.” Her voice sounded stretched thin.
    “The committee has asked me to agree to become a serious candidate.”
    “And did you tell them you would?”
    “I said I’d pray.”
    “That was a good answer.”
    “The dickens you say! I want this church, I want it for us!”
    She opened her eyes. The attendant tapped on Jeb’s window. Jeb rolled down the window and paid him.
    “Then tell them you’ll take it.”
    “You know I can’t. Not until you and I have worked out all our matters.” He started the engine.
    Fern pushed up from her relaxed posture and looked at him. “I saw the way those people catered to you yesterday, Jeb. They
     were all but saluting when you walked in the door. Church in the Dell has been a hard church to pastor, I know that. I’ve
     wanted you to give up, at times, but you didn’t. You stuck it out and over time, you’ve done some good. But this city church
     has you reeling from all of the attention they’ve shown you and I’m not ignorant of that either.” She slipped her feet out
     of her good shoes. She had a pair of white cotton socks in her pocketbook. She dug them out and pulled them onto her feet
     over the stockings. “You need time to clear your head, Jeb.”
    “My mind is clear. This is the place for us, Fern. We’ve found the Welbys’ kin and a place to start over.”
    “Claudia Drake is a mess. You aren’t suggesting that she is prepared to take in Angel and the kids, are you? She can’t feed
     what children she does have.”
    “You heard the guy at the Skirvin. I found her some work. Even Henry said I had made a good connection for her, had one of
     his church members get some material to give Claudia. The girl lives right outside Oklahoma City, for heaven’s sakes. If we’re
     there, we can check on them, help them out. We can have it all, a new congregation, better pay, and give the Welbys back their
     family.”
    “Life is not that easily fixed, Jeb.”
    “Until now, it wasn’t.”
    “You’ve made up your mind, so what else is there to talk about?”
    “There’s more to tell. The pay is really good, Fern.
    You can stay at home if you want.”
    “I teach because I want.”
    “I know. The Coulter girls choose to work. You’re like your daddy. But you won’t have to, that’s all I’m saying.” Donna sighed
     and stretched out her arms. Fern peered around the seat. “You finally awake?”
    “I think you need to listen to Jeb, if you ask me,” she said. “I never knew what you saw in that scrubby little town, Fern.