Free Calculated Risk by Zoe M. McCarthy

smugness. She’d flippantly answered Nick’s questions about God’s nature. Of course, she’d been distracted by Jason’s betrayal. Nice excuse. Would she have been less dismissive if she hadn’t been upset?
    She sat on the bed and lowered the leather bound book to her lap. Bringing her Bible with her this weekend hadn’t crossed her mind, but Nick had packed his. What kind of new Sunday school teacher was she, anyway? At best, she sporadically read the Bible. And then to toss away God’s lifeline in a time of crisis. But she’d never thought of the Bible that way. As a resource when trouble happened. Not until Nick had called her attention to what God thought about her situation.
    She rifled through the Bible’s thin pages. From now on, she’d be an example for her trusting four-year-olds. She’d download a Bible app to her phone so the next time she ran distressed to her phone, it would be to search God’s Word. Like Nick, she’d be ready to help someone in need.
    Her gaze fell to familiar words. God never tired of reminding His people as He did in Isaiah: I am the Lord your God. She read down a few verses. You are my people. She belonged to God. How simple, yet profound. Peace swept over her. Her Father in heaven knew what she needed in the wake of Jason’s latest blow.
    Daddy’s face formed in her mind. Disappointment roosted in his gaze and in the set of his lips. That put a damper on her resolutions. After her revelation on the lake, her heavenly and earthly fathers seemed at odds with each other about Jason.
    Didn’t Daddy have her best interests in his expectations for her life—out of a father’s love for his daughter? He was smart and robust and successful in all he did. Everyone liked Daddy, or at least respected him. Wasn’t it good that such a man got his way? Actually, Daddy didn’t always prevail. Didn’t he back down when Mom stood firm that her children would go to church?
    Why was she judging Daddy? She hadn’t told him about Jason, yet. Her premature call on his reaction to her losing Jason was unfair. It was possible God and Daddy were in agreement.
    A faint scent of the yellow roses on the bedside table drifted her way. She smiled. She should get downstairs and join the family. She closed the Bible and stowed it in the drawer where she’d found it.
    As she shut the guestroom door, her pearl solitaire caught her attention. Should she return the gossip-churning ring to her right hand? If she did, would Ellie and Nancy think she was playing mind games with them?
    She could remove her ring. But then Ellie might worry that she and Nick had fought and called off their engagement. Maybe offer the truth. Why not? She hadn’t purposely listened in on Ellie and Nancy’s conversation in the kitchen. For now, she’d leave the solitaire on her left hand and confess the truth when the moment seemed right.
     
    ****
     
    Cisney followed the turkey aroma and passed through the butler’s pantry to the kitchen. The enormity of the room stopped her mid-stride. Cherry cabinets, including the one concealing the refrigerator, masses of granite countertops, and at least three ovens and two sinks added up to posh.
    Daddy, considered well off, lived in nothing like this house. Although Nick’s family lived in luxury, they came across far from snooty rich. Down to earth, gracious, and kind came to mind. They called their expensive piano The Old Girl, for Pete’s sake.
    While Nancy emptied canned pumpkin into a mixing bowl, Ellie and Sandy worked on a salad. Grandma Thelma formed a lattice of dough strips over apple filling made from fresh apples, evidenced by the peel coils piled on a cutting board. She counted them. Four pumpkin and two apple. Six pies?
    Observing this family was a smile booster. Cisney’s smile seeped onto her face like melted butter sought every cranny of a waffle. It felt good. “Good morning.” She glanced around for a kitchen clock. “At least I think it’s still