Free The Caregiver by Shelley Shepard Gray

stilled. “Well . . . I hope so. I hope and pray that you will. That’s all we can do, jah ?”
    She nodded. Because he hadn’t been overly optimistic, she felt comforted. For some reason hearing his words, so plainspoken and bare, gave her more of a sense of peace than all the flowery promises her mother constantly spouted.
    And for the first time since the doctor had calmly told her she had cancer, Mattie felt a little ray of sun filter through her cloud of depression.
    Maybe she was going to be okay after all.
    Having cancer wasn’t easy. But living without hope was even harder.
    L ucy knew she’d never forget their day at the Toledo Zoo. After arriving there in the taxi, she, Katie, and Calvin explored the grounds as much as their time had allowed.
    Katie had laughed at the hippos and Calvin had enjoyed the monkeys. She was interested in all of the beautiful historic buildings that made up the zoo, and enthralled about the idea of the men of the Great Depression building such things of beauty.
    It had reminded her that it was always best to move forward, instead of dwelling on the past.
    But even more special than the architecture and the antics of the animals were her companions. Lucy had truly loved her time with Katie and Calvin Weaver.
    Katie, with her spunk and mischievous ways, reminded Lucy of her little brothers and sisters.
    And Calvin . . . his way of looking at the world, with joy and amusement in almost everything, made her happy.
    For the first time in months, she felt a true sense of optimism. A true feeling of hope for her future. Perhaps one day she really would be able to live without fear, without anxiety. Maybe this trip to Ohio was the fresh start she’d been needing.
    As they crossed the street, Lucy pointed out a horse and buggy. “Our buggies would feel very different if they looked like that, wouldn’t they?” Lucy teased.
    “My mamm wouldn’t like it none,” Katie declared. “It’s too . . . too everything.”
    “You said that exactly right, Katie,” Calvin said. “It is too everything, indeed.”
    The buggy was a tourist attraction, to be sure, as fancy as anything she’d ever seen—with ribbons and bands of flowers adorning a painted carriage. A young couple was standing next to the horse and getting their picture taken.
    Calvin followed her gaze and pointed. “Look at how that driver has it all decorated. It’s nearly blinding. Beauty wouldn’t care for all those decorations on his harness.”
    Katie giggled. “Oh, no, he wouldn’t!”
    Lucy was grinning, too, when she felt Calvin tense. “Katie, you stay with Lucy. I’ll be right back,” he muttered before striding up the block. Right to where the carriage was parked.
    Katie tightened her grip on Lucy’s hand. “What’s he doing?”
    “I’m not sure,” Lucy murmured. She almost ignored his directive and followed, but then stood frozen in shock as she watched him loosen the horse’s lines and direct people away from it.
    When a man who was obviously the horse and buggy’s owner started yelling at Calvin, he stood his ground.
    Beside her, Katie murmured, “Oh, my. Look how mad Calvin is at the driver!”
    “He’s mad?”
    “Uh-huh. Calvin never yells, he just scowls, like he’s doing now.”
    Lucy swallowed the lump that had just formed in her throat. “Your brother certainly is scowling. I wonder why he doesn’t just walk away? It’s not his horse.”
    Looking up at her, Katie shook her head. “My brother would never do that. Not if he was upset, anyways. Calvin doesn’t back down.”
    With a sinking feeling, Lucy watched the driver fold his arms over his chest and yell. Though Calvin didn’t seem to be yelling, too, Lucy noticed that he didn’t back off one bit.
    Actually, Calvin looked to be terribly angry. Every so often, he would point at the horse and glare. When a young couple approached, obviously eager for a carriage ride, instead of moving to one side, Calvin shook his head.
    The