Free When We Were Saints by Han Nolan Page A

while. When I was much younger I used to dream of creating a marvelous garden here on the farm."
    Archie couldn't believe the expression on his grandmother's face. She had a faraway, enraptured look, as though she were seeing paradise before her: She told Archie and Clare all about her girlhood dreams, and for the first time in Archie's life, he saw his grandmother as a person, a real person with her own hopes and dreams and disappointments.
He had never heard his grandmother open up to anyone the way she was opening up to Clare. In a matter of minutes, Clare had her laughing and crying and divulging things Archie never would have guessed in a million years about his grandmother, She confessed that being married to Silas had been a full-time job, and she'd never had the time to create much of a garden. She said she had always loved cats. She had grown up with them as pets, and she had been so sad when she married and Silas refused to let her have any house cats. Clare even got her talking about his grandfather's prophecies and how sorry she felt for him. She told Clare how hard it had been for his grandfather to accept all the changes in the town he had loved so much, and she told her almost whispering, that Silas drank too much.
    Archie sat listening with his mouth dropped open in shock. By the end of the conversation, Clare had convinced his grandmother that she should return to her gardening and take over one of the greenhouses on the property to grow the camellias she loved so much. "But first," Clare added, "you need to get your leg looked at."
    Both Archie and his grandmother looked flabbergasted.
    Archie said, "What's wrong with her leg?" and at the same time his grandmother asked, "How could you know about my leg? I've told no one."
    Clare smiled. "I saw you limping when you came into the room, and when you sat down you bit your lip like it hurt an awful lot to sit. It's your leg, isn't it? Your right one."
    "I hadn't even noticed," Archie said. He leaned forward in his seat to get a better look at his grandmother. "Grandmama, is this true?"
    "Well, yes. Yes, it is. I thought it was just my sciatica acting up."
    Clare said, "But you know it isn't. That's why you've got so much worry. I can see it in your eyes. You need to take care of that leg and let a doctor look at it, and all your other worries will take care of themselves. You've got a greenhouse to fill and a cat or two to add to your household, and Archibald here to love."
    Archie and his grandmother looked at each other and Archie saw tears in his grandmother's eyes. He smiled at her and looked away, touched by the love he felt coming from her At that moment he felt closer to her than he'd ever been before.
    Before Clare left, Emma Vaughn had promised her that she would make an appointment with the doctor and would begin planning a garden and clearing out the greenhouse for her camellias. Archie wondered if his grandmother had forgotten her plans to move in with her lady friends. If she had, he wasn't going to remind her of it.
    Archie walked with Clare out onto the porch, and when he had closed the door behind him so his grandmother couldn't hear he asked her "What did you do in there? Her face is all lit up like a Christmas tree. I've never seen her like that. I never knew all those things she told you." Archie shook his head in wonder. "I just never knew."
    "I'm just seeing her Archibald, and loving who I see. That's all." Clare hugged him good-bye, then ran to her bicycle and rode away, waving as she pedaled down the drive.
    Archie waved back and watched her until she rode out of sight.

Chapter 10
    T HE DAYS PASSED AND Archie didn't do any of the things Clare had told him he must do. He thought about what he was supposed to be doing a lot, daydreaming instead of doing his schoolwork, asking himself if he could ever say that prayer three thousand times in one day, in one sitting. How long would it take him? He watched the television and wondered what it