Ruston had to let go of her hand because John Henry was wiggling too much. Once he did, she wandered into the house with Natalie. He watched the taller, darker woman give her a hug as they walked. They seemed to be getting along better than at the time of the wedding.
CHAPTER9
Hanging up the phone,Hazel placed it on the bed in front of her. Her grandfather was stable but not doing as well as the doctors had thought that he would be doing by now. Her grandmother was staying in town with him.
She glanced over at her son, who was sound asleep in the crib next to her. He had crashed while Tess had held him—Tess had said she could put babies to sleep, but Hazel hadn’t believed her at the time.
The group had spent very little time together with their significant others, but it seemed they were getting along just fine. And all had taken to the little boy, and then Math’s three kids joined the group as the day got later. Maybe they wouldn’t mind if she had to take him to book club on Sunday. She could tell them she wouldn’t have a sitter. Just once to see how it worked out.
Getting up, she went down the stairs and saw that the crowd had thinned while she was on the phone. The only ones left were Tess and Math with his kids and Ruston. They were sitting in the living room talking about religion, of course.
The couple was sitting on the couch across from Ruston. Hazel was happy to see they were holding hands. They were so cute together, the big-time bank president and the farmer. Opposites from the outside but devoted to each other even after such a short time.
“What do you think?” Math was asking Ruston.
“I think Math has to realize that Tess has to decide that for herself. It is her choice to become part of the church, not yours,” he told Math.
“But she attends, so why not just become a member?” Math argued, more with Tess than with Ruston.
“Math, I think you have to look into your heart and see if you would change religions for Tess. You’re asking her to change something very important to her because of you. Is it possible that she would be considering it more if you were more committed to each other?” Ruston asked him, and Hazel looked at Tess, who was pretending to be very interested in the pattern on the couch.
“I have asked her to marry me. She said no,” Math stated at Tess.
“I said, Mathias, that it’s too soon,” Tess defended herself.
“Marriage or not, Math, Tess is there beside you every week. Pledging herself to your faith is a big step, one she might not be ready for.” Ruston touched Hazel’s leg as he spoke, whether because she was there or because he was telling her that also, she didn’t know. Though they were far from getting married, and she was never going to accept God again. No God would do what his had done to her.
Their relationship, or lack of it, came down to her not believing in the one thing that was most important in his life. He dedicated his life to serving something she had no interest in.
Curling her feet under her, Hazel realized she had become the topic of conversation. Her eyes opened. Had she fallen asleep? All three were looking at her.
“What?” she asked.
“I just wanted to know if you want me to come by tomorrow and finish off the wheat harvest?” Math had asked.
She sat up. “Why?”
“Because you need to get it off, I am done with wheat now, and it will take about a day. Maybe we can get Tess to run the combine.” He squeezed his girlfriend’s leg.
“No, I couldn’t let you do that. I can get it done.” Even as she said it, she didn’t know how she would have time with no one to watch John Henry.
“No, Hazel, we will be here in the morning. No is not an answer. I will call the book club. It’s Saturday, so everyone should be off but maybe Mia. We’ll get it done.” Tess got up and hugged Hazel, who had tears in her eyes. She really hadn’t thought about how she was going to finish everything with her grandfather in the hospital. Doing it alone would take weeks.
“Okay,” she whispered into the hug.
“We’ll be back in the morning,” Math said as he pulled his girlfriend out of the house.
“See you in the morning,” Tess said as she went.
“Bye.” Hazel followed them to the door and watched them go to their car.
As their car drove out of the yard, Ruston came up behind her and put his arms around her. “Now I’m stuck.”
“What?” she asked, loving the feeling of his arms around her.
“Natalie drove me out, but she left without me,” he replied into the back of her head.
“Oh, I guess you can take my car. I can use the pickup if I need to go anywhere. Or if you come back tomorrow, you can catch a ride back to town then,” she said, but she leaned back into his chest.