Simple Deceit (The Harmony Series 2) by Nancy Mehl Page A

well-balanced, but he ain’t never healed from the pain his mama caused by leavin.’ All these years, I been hopin’ he’d get over it. But I can see now that he’s still hidin’ his hurt inside.” She ran her weathered hand over her face. “This is all my fault. Not lettin’ him deal with the truth. Now I mighta cost him the best thing that’s ever happened to him in his whole life. You, Gracie girl.”
    “It’s not your fault,” I said, shaking my head. “But I wish Sam would have told me the truth. It makes me feel like he doesn’t trust me. Surely he doesn’t think something like that would change the way I feel about him.”
    Sweetie stood up and walked to the window, where she looked out toward the dark clouds that hung over Harmony. “Gonna start snowin’ soon.” Her voice sounded far away, even though she only stood a few feet from me. As if on cue, big fat snowflakes began drifting past the windows. After a few seconds, she whirled around to face me. “No matter who did wrong, you have to decide if you can work through it. Is Sam worth enough to you to put out the effort it will take to ride out this storm?” She crossed her arms and studied me. “I ain’t tellin’ you it will be over tomorrow. Sometimes storms blow through with big winds and lots of fury—then suddenly they’re gone.” She waved her hand toward the thickening snow. “And sometimes they park themselves righover you and take their sweet time movin’ along. You gotta have your feet planted firm, Gracie, so the storm don’t knock you over.” She walked back to the couch and picked up her old coat. “It’s like that story about the man who built his house on the rock and the man who built his house on the sand.” She shook her head and laughed. “I realized a long time ago that both those men had the same storms. Life ain’t always gonna be as smooth as a baby’s clean behind. Sometimes there’s gonna be somethin’ nasty that’s gotta be dealt with. I used to blame God for what happened to my mama and daddy. And what happened to my sister. But down through the years I figgered somethin’ out. I was lookin’ in the wrong place. It ain’t God sendin’ the storm. It’s God who gives us the rock.”
    I couldn’t hold back a smile. “You’re a pretty smart woman, Sweetie Goodrich. There are a lot of religious experts who haven’t figured that out.”
    She snorted. “I quit puttin’ much stock in them experts a long time ago. Only PhD in religion comes from the Holy Ghost, and He ain’t much interested in what kinda title you got after your name. Shoot, them rotten ole Pharisees thought they were experts, too. I think God’s more interested in open hearts willin’ to listen to His voice.” She peered closely at me, her expression grave. “Now I just got one question for you.”
    “You want to know if I’m willing to stand on the rock and see this through?”
    “That’s it, Gracie girl. Do you love Sam enough to ride out this storm?”
    I got up and went over to where she stood. Then I wrapped my arms around her. “Yes,” I whispered. “I’ll stand on that rock as long as it takes. We’ll make it through this storm—as long as that’s what Sam wants.”
    She squeezed me hard and then shook herself loose. Aftersliding on her coat, she walked to the door but turned around to gaze at me once more before stepping outside. There were tears in her eyes. “Don’t you worry about that, okay? That boy loves you so much he don’t know his up from his down. When he’s ready to talk, he’ll come to you. Trust me. I been around him a long time now. He has to deal with stuff in his own way.”
    “Okay. I won’t push.”
    She nodded and walked out the door. I was left standing alone in my house, wondering if I’d just promised Sweetie something I couldn’t do. Did I really love Sam enough to weather this storm? I’d had such high hopes for us—for my life in Harmony. But things weren’t turning out