Free Lighting Candles in the Snow by Karen Jones Gowen Page B

live together. What was that about? You always said you’d never live with a guy and before you know it, he’s moved in with you.”
    I moaned. “I know! And it about broke Mom’s heart, too. You know how she feels about that kind of thing.”
    Suzie combed her fingers through my hair and gave me a mirror to see the back. From the baby monitor, I could hear Liam making sounds as he woke up from his nap.
    “Being a pastor’s wife, I suppose morally strict comes with the job description,” Suzie said as she straightened the combs and gadgets on her table.
    “If Daddy had said anything against it, I don’t think I would have let Jeremy move in. I couldn’t have handled his disapproval. Funny thing is he actually seemed okay with it. Our parents are weird like that, aren’t they? Things you think Daddy would get upset about, it’s Mom and vice versa. They are quite the united pair.”
    Examining myself in the mirror, I forced a smile. Those frown lines between my eyebrows didn’t help my looks. I pushed at them with an index finger. Maybe if I kneaded the lines regularly I could rub them out.
    “It’s probably why you ended up marrying the guy—your Calvinist moral conscience at work,” Suzie said, pulling the plastic cover-all from my shoulders.
    “Well, that and being smitten with him. He could talk me into anything. Besides, I loved him, Suz, I really did love him. Oh, God, those eyes!”
    Not being encased in flowered plastic made me look somewhat better, although I certainly could have used some makeup. When had I stopped wearing it? It seemed like ages since my eyelashes had touched a mascara wand.
    Suzie shrugged. “I guess so.” Liam got more demanding. She turned down the sound on the baby monitor. “Listen, Karoline. You are better than Jeremy. You always have been. Your divorce was in September, it’s now February. You need to move on.”
    I stiffened. “Well, okay, Suz. Just as soon as I figure out how to do that, I will,” I said sarcastically.
    What did my sister know about manipulative, unfaithful men? What did she know about divorce? She had the perfect husband. Rob doted on her and their kids, a true family man, like our dad had been.
    Suzie must have sensed my resistance, because she got all quiet and began sweeping up the floor. She didn’t like it when people disagreed with her opinions. Suzie wasn’t argumentative, just bossy. When she sensed a fight coming on, she would back down rather than get into a heated discussion.
    To break the sudden ice between us, I said, “I should have become a Mormon like you. Then I could find a nice Mormon guy like Rob.”
    Suzie giggled, more relaxed. “You just say the word, sweetie, and I’ll get the missionaries over here right now. We can set up your baptism for next Saturday. Rob can baptize you.”
    Used to my sister’s half-kidding, half-true threats to make me a Mormon, I rolled my eyes at her. “Oh sure, Suzie.”
    Suzie had dated a Mormon boy in high school. Probably the only Mormon kid in the whole school and my sister had to find him.
    When Suzie wanted to be baptized, my appalled parents fell back on Mom’s old standard of “what will people think?” She kept saying, “The Baptist preacher’s daughter joining the Mormons? How could you do that to your dad?”
    Since Suzie was under eighteen, the church wouldn’t allow her to get baptized without getting our parents’ written permission. Rather than pushing them for it, however, she held off and let it go for the time being. Suzie had always known how to pick her battles. The family figured it was a passing fad, except that after graduation she decided to move to Utah. Still, Mom and Dad seemed okay with that. They paid for beauty school in Salt Lake City, and within a very short time Suzie was baptized a Mormon and engaged to Rob.
    Once Suzie left home, I muddled through my teen years, losing myself in books to cope with the sudden weirdness of being an only child. I was the