Free Joyful by Shelley Shepard Gray Page A

Levi missed his parents—and how aware his older brothers were of his feelings. She’d always believed Levi to be far more sensitive than he readily let on.
    After folding a couple of his shirts and straightening his sheets, she gathered up a few items that looked especially dirty and put them in a pile in the hall.
    Next she wandered into what had to be Neil’s room. It was as neat as a pin. On a beautifully crafted cherrywood desk lay a plain, functional calendar. Lists of chores, auctions, and appointments filled each of the calendar’s squares.
    Next to a heavy-looking bedside table was his bed. It was neatly made, the sheets tucked in with precision. Covering the queen-sized mattress was a beautifully stitched white-on-white quilt in a rose pattern. Running her hand along the worn fabric, Elizabeth smiled, realizing that their mother had probably quilted the piece. She had a vague memory of hearing about how Mrs. Beiler had been a gifted quilter.
    The only thing that gave the room any personality was the overflowing laundry basket filled with clothes that smelled of barns and animals.
    Not wanting to get too up-close and personal with his smelly laundry, Elizabeth dragged the whole basket into the hall before looking for Kaylene’s room.
    Seeing a trio of rooms at the end of the hall, she peeked into the first. It was empty except for a pair of twin beds. The walls were painted a cool blue. When she noticed that one wall easily had a dozen pegs, as well as a set of built-in shelves, she knew the room must have belonged to Claire and Beverly. Next to that room was a completely empty bedroom, its white walls and bare wood floor practically begging for company.
    Remembering how close Kaylene was to her eldest brother, she could only imagine that the empty room was Junior’s. When she opened the last bedroom door, she grinned.
    Inside, there was an explosion of pink and white. Kaylene’s walls were painted a soft carnation pink and the quilt was a crazy quilt obviously made up of old dresses of Kaylene’s. Small dresses hung on hooks on the walls and brushes and pins lay on the desk.
    Stuffed animals of all sorts littered the floor and the bed and the soft-looking easy chair in the corner. An oval rag rug lay in the middle of the room. The bright colors of the rags woven together made the rug look festive and cheerful.
    Next to her bed was a white table, its sides gently curved and beveled. On its top lay a box of tissues and two books, one of which was Little Women.
    She had a pile of towels and laundry in the corner of the room.
    After adding Kaylene’s laundry to the rather large pile in the hall, Elizabeth walked back downstairs. The cookies were done, so she quickly set them on the countertop to cool.
    Then she knew it was time to face one last room. Steeling her shoulders, she walked past the living room and the dining room, finally coming to a stop in front of what had to be the master bedroom.
    It was silly, but she was reluctant to enter Randall’s bedroom. Half of her was afraid to discover some piece of evidence that he’d changed. The other half was afraid to realize that he was still the same man she’d fallen in love with. If he was, she knew she was about to set herself up for another bout of heartache.
    Bracing herself, she opened the door and then stood in awe. Instead of a big bed, he had a futon shaped into a couch of sorts. A pair of pillows and a thick quilt, made up of simple squares in greens and blues, lay at one corner. Next to the futon was a heavy-looking easy chair upholstered in gray plaid. A trio of books lay on the floor. A thick area rug lay in the middle of the wooden floor, and a fairly large bookshelf rested in between the two windows. Lining the shelves were books of all kinds, ranging from history to mysteries to religious texts.
    There was also the silly wooden train that she’d given him as a Christmas gift the first year they’d