Free Beyond These Hills by Sandra Robbins Page B

will.”
    Laurel had already disappeared inside the house. Her mother followed. Andrew swallowed his disappointment when Laurel didn’t even look back at him. Reverend Martin stood at the top of the porch steps, his hand resting on one of the posts. When Andrew reached the top of the steps, the old reverend held out his hand. “Welcome to our home, Andrew.”
    Surprised again, Andrew grasped his hand and shook it. “Thank you, Reverend Martin.”
    The pastor’s dark eyes twinkled as he laughed. “None of that Reverend Martin stuff. I’m Simon to my friends, and I sure hope you’re going to be my friend.”
    Friends? That was totally unexpected. He had hoped he would make friends in Cades Cove, but the reality was that he probably wasn’t going to be welcomed by many of the residents. Maybe this invitation was a pretense to put him at ease. Simon Martin and Matthew Jackson didn’t want him to succeed, and he was sure they would do everything they could to keep their neighbors from selling their land.
    He arched an eyebrow. “Why would you want to be friends with me?”
    Simon laughed again. “Because you seem like a nice young man.”
    â€œBut that doesn’t make sense. I’m here on a mission that you oppose.”
    Simon’s eyes narrowed and his hand squeezed Andrew’s shoulder. “Andrew, when I was a young man, God called me to the ministry.I’ve tried to serve Him ever since. That calling has put me in opposition to a lot of the things that go against the teachings of the Bible. I’ve come in contact with people who have let sin take over their lives to the point where they’re almost destroyed, but I’ve always let them know I hate the sin in their lives, not them. Now you’ve come here on a mission I don’t support. It’s your job, and I respect that. I don’t like your job. I don’t want you to succeed, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like you. I was honest when I said I wanted to be your friend. We all do. You may not understand that now, but maybe in time you will.”
    Andrew shook his head in amazement. “That’s quite an amazing statement, sir. I’ll think about what you’ve said.” In an effort to change the subject, Andrew pointed to the car beside the house. “Nice looking car. Is it yours?”
    Simon threw back his head and laughed. “Heavens, no. You won’t catch me driving one of those things. I’d probably run over somebody. It belongs to Noah Campbell, our adopted son. Noah came to live with us when he was just a boy. He’s a preacher over at Pigeon Forge now, but he’s been visiting us for the last week. He’s going home this afternoon.”
    Before Andrew could respond, a raspy voice called out from inside the cabin. “Simon, I hear we got comp’ny. You gonna bring him inside so’s I can meet him or not?”
    Simon laughed, walked to the front door, and held it open for Andrew to enter. “Come on inside and meet another member of our family.”
    As Andrew entered the house, he inhaled the most delectable smells he had encountered in a long time. His stomach growled at the scents drifting into the room. He’d overslept and skipped breakfast this morning, and his stomach was reminding him of it. His face grew warm and he glanced at Simon. “Something sure smells good.”
    Simon nodded, walked across the room to a chair where an elderly woman sat, and put his hand on her shoulder. “Anna sets thebest table in all the Cove, and we have this lady here to thank. She taught Anna everything she knows about cooking and about a lot of other things. Andrew, this is Granny Lawson.”
    Andrew’s gaze raked the woman as he eased across the floor and came to a stop in front of her. Even seated and with her shoulders stooped, Andrew could see that she had once been a tall woman. Her white hair was pulled