Sample Chapter – You Have Made My Heart Anthology

Chapter 1

Trent

When I glanced up from combing my son’s blond hair, I could only issue a long, heavy sigh. My youngest, Angie, had just walked out of her bedroom, proudly having dressed herself. She had on a hot pink and purple striped shirt with a light green skirt. Her socks were blue, and her shoes were black. Her hair, a little darker than her brother’s, was pulled into a lumpy and cockeyed ponytail.

Instinctively, I clapped a hand over Will’s mouth before he could laugh out loud, the sound from his lips instead coming off like a muffled choke. Leaning forward, I gave him “the eye” before handing over his comb so that I could pick up Angela and toss her playfully into the air.

“Where’s breakfast, Daddy? We gotta have pancakes ‘fore we go to church,” she informed me, frowning in the direction of the empty table.

“Remember, I told you we’re going go out for breakfast after church. My, you look pretty, but I think I know a shirt that will make you look really beautiful in that skirt…”

I wondered as I rummaged through a three-year-old’s dresser drawer when this had become my normal. I felt tired deep down inside, in a place I couldn’t quite reach. A place that never relaxed, even in the silent hours my eyes were closed and my body slept. It was a soul-filling weariness that couldn’t be relieved.

This was a home that wasn’t complete, wasn’t finished, wasn’t quite right. The kids never seemed to notice, at least not often. Sometimes there were tearful nightmares or pensive stares at a family photo on the wall, but mostly their lives were getting along as if nothing had changed.

Yet something big had changed. Something big was gone, and I wasn’t sure it would ever come back.

Fifteen minutes later, the three of us entered St. Anne’s Catholic Church, ten minutes late for the start of Mass. As quietly as possible, I walked the children into the “quiet room” and hurried to settle them into their seats, weakly smiling an apology at the other families already participating in the service.

Angie’s outfit now matched, and her hair was pulled up with a green ribbon. I couldn’t help feeling a warm affection well up in my chest as she adorably put her hands together in front of her to pray along with the congregation. When finished, she looked up to me wide-eyed, searching for approval. It was moments like these that my love for her nearly took my breath away.

When the service ended, I knelt with Angie to pick up some of her crayons that had fallen under the pew while Will zipped across the room to chat with one of his friends. He glanced over at me, but I didn’t call him back, so with a bright smile, he and Pete Stodden inched further into a corner to gab about something that must have been very exciting by the light in their eyes.

Angela had just closed her crayon case when I spied one more, farther under the seat. I pointed, and she giggled as she crawled on her belly to get it, her legs kicking with the effort to reach it.

When we were finished picking up her things, I caught my son’s eye and crooked my head for him to follow us out of the church. He shrugged to his friend, then shuffled in our direction. Satisfied that he would follow, Angie and I made our way outside and across the campus to the parking lot of the student ministries building.

“Hi, I’m Tonya Bennett. I’ll be teaching kindergarten.” A woman spoke as we approached her table.

“I know.” I glanced at the sign in front of her which clearly read Kindergarten Registration. She blushed a little, and I chuckled. If I’d had to guess, I’d assume she was a full-time teacher, not just the weekly Catholic catechism instructor. The golden complexion of her skin made me think she also spent a good bit of time in the sun. “Trent Morrison. And this is Angela.”

I placed a hand on my little girl’s head, gently leading her forward. She tucked her chin into her chest but smiled cheerily as Miss Bennett crouched down to meet her eye-to-eye.

“Hi, Angela, I saw you in church today, and I noticed that you already know your Sign of the Cross. That’s very good. Who taught you that?”

“Daddy,” Angie replied. “And I know my father, too!”

Tonya shot me a quizzical glance, and I mouthed the words, “The Lord’s Prayer” to her.

“Oh, you know the Our Father, too. Wonderful! Are you excited about CCD, Angela?”

“Yes, Miss Beanett.”

I opened my mouth to correct my daughter, but instead her new teacher said, “Miss Bennett, but you know what, you can call me Tonya, okay?’

“‘Kay. Know what, Tona?” she asked, still not quite getting the name right.

“What?”

“William doesn’t want to come to CCD.”

The weekly Catholic classes were something I remembered I hadn’t been entirely enthusiastic about, either, but then I couldn’t recall ever having a teacher as young and pretty as Miss Bennet.

Her warm, piercing eyes glanced to my son who kicked at a rock and avoided her gaze. I wasn’t surprised when he frowned and gave his sister a soft bump with his hip to quiet her. For her part, Angie glared at him and placed her first two fingers in her mouth.

Tonya laughed, and I couldn’t help looking over at her again. She was a pretty woman, with short dark hair, straight and silky in a bob framing her face. She tucked one side of those almost black locks behind her ear, then stood up to hand me a stack of papers. I took them and bent down to fill out the registration form on her table.

Finished, we walked away, pausing when Miss Bennett’s voice called us.

“William,” she said his name, then waited for my boy to pivot. Crooking her finger at him, she beckoned him over. He hesitated a moment, and I thought I’d probably have to chastise him about manners, but after just a beat, he moved in her direction.

A group of people passed between us so I couldn’t be sure what was said when Miss Bennett bent in close to Will. By the time the crowd was out of the way, he was walking back to us, teeny bit of a spring in his step.

“What did she say?” I asked.

Will only shrugged, then passed something to Angie before crying out, “Hey, Dad, I got to tell Pete somethin’! Be right back!” A peek over at Miss Bennett showed that she was speaking to another family, but her gaze caught mine. She tossed me a bright smile before giving another little boy her undivided attention.