“Hi Mrs. Wade,” Lucas smiled hurrying into the kitchen and blinking at the soft lights that illuminated the room.
“Why if it isn’t my little buckaroo!” The older woman turned with a grin. “Did you wake your mama up early?”
“I’m hungry,” Lucas said, looking between the older woman and his mother.
“I was awake,” Rainy admitted. “Too many years of getting up to look in on someone and start classes.”
“You’re a student?” Mrs. Wade asked beckoning them to follow her.
“I just finished my online degree,” Rainy admitted.
“Congratulations! It’s nice to see a young person giving life their all. Do you already have a job when you get home?”
“No,” Rainy admitted. “I hope I can find something that will support me and Lucas.”
Mrs. Wade waved them to stools at the high kitchen island. “Well I’ll be praying you get the perfect job,” she said with a smile. “God knows right where you belong.”
Rainy squirmed in her hard seat, not knowing how to respond. “Thanks,” she finally managed.
“How about some French toast?” Mrs. Wade asked grasping a loaf of freshly cut home-baked bread and a spatula. That’s what we’re serving this morning anyway, but I’ll make you something special with strawberries and cream.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Rainy balked. She didn’t want to add expenses to the cost of this trip.
“It’s on me,” the older woman said shaking her spatula at Rainy. “I remember having little ones this age.” Mrs. Wade moved to the large gas range and began putting things together. “My husband and I had a small farm, and when the children came along, we found ourselves short of money. I never had no real training at anything, but I could always cook.”
Rainy took the cup of milk Mrs. Wade offered, placing it in front of her son, who yawned as he watched the sky brighten through the large windows behind the sink.
“I started praying that God would give me the right job at the right time, and as the children grew, I took up a place at the local high school as a lunch lady.” Mrs. Wade turned, grinning over her shoulder as she whisked eggs in a bowl, added vanilla, milk, and a dash of sugar. “It was the perfect job. I could drop the kids off at school and then go to work. I had benefits, a fair wage, and I got to keep an eye on the children as they all grew. In summer I could work on the farm and still have time with the family.”
“That’s nice,” Rainy said thinking the job didn’t seem like much.
“It was,” Mrs. Wade dipped a piece of bread in the egg mixture then placed it into a hot skillet. “It was what I needed when I needed it. If we have a little faith that is how things go. Granted, sometimes they don’t seem like the right thing, but God knows better than we do what we need.” Mrs. Wade smiled flipping the toast and smearing on a cream cheese mixture then adding chopped strawberries before sandwiching the whole stack and letting them finish cooking.
Rainy, squirmed on the hard chair once more, as the smell of frying bacon filled the air. “How can you be sure that God did it? Or that there is a God?”
“Why don’t you take young Lucas out there on the porch, and I’ll bring breakfast out to you. I hope you won’t mind if I join you. It’s one of the benefits of working here.”
Rainy scowled surprised that the onetime lunch lady hadn’t answered her question. “Alright,” she said reluctantly, helping Lucas from his stool and aiming him at the door as she gathered his glass of milk and her large chocolate latte.
Cool, misty air swirled around her as Rainy stepped out onto the back porch, and she breathed deeply of the fresh air. In the distance, she could hear the soft sounds of the waking ranch, and she felt the natural cadence of life echo on the wind.
“Sit here, Mommy,” Lucas called as he scrambled up onto a long bench in front of a battered table.
Rainy took the seat by her son, gazing out past the bathhouse turned spa, the open plain beyond, as the sky turned to pink, then crept into gold. The brilliance of a new day painted the horizon in a display of splendor as it melted the mists of the day away.
The first rays of the new day brushed Rainy’s face like a caress, and she soaked in the color, warmth, and shimmering wonder of the morning.
“The heavens declare His wonders,” Mrs. Wade spoke, almost reverently as she set a large tray on the table. “It’s one way I know there is a God in heaven and all’s well with this world. No, I don’t mean that life is always good, right, or easy. We have troubles in this world because mankind is fallen. This earth was created perfectly, but we messed it up and now all of us live with the imperfection we brought into being. It’s only when we surrender our hearts and souls that we can find a glimpse of that perfection again.”
Mrs. Wade scooped a piece of stuffed French toast onto a plate, sprinkling it with powdered sugar and cinnamon and placing it before Lucas with a wink.
Rainy felt the words strike like a hammer on steel in her heart as the words swirled, mist-like in her mind. Could anything this woman said be true?
“God is great, and God is good, let us thank Him for our food; By His blessings, we are fed, give us Lord, our daily bread. Amen.” Mrs. Wade intoned, handing a plate Rainy, her words washing over the younger woman in a soft warm breath. How simple, how clear, and how unheard of.
“Mommy,” Lucas tugged at the sleeve of Rainy’s sweater pulling her back to reality and she turned her attention to helping him with his breakfast.
Wasn’t her son a miracle? If something so wonderful could come from such pain, perhaps