Free Angel Unaware by Elizabeth Sinclair

his way out of a brown paper bag.” She laughed, and the sound flooded over Dora like sunshine. Then Millie went suddenly serious. “You can cook, can’t you, dear?” “Oh, yes. And I must say I’m pretty good at it,”
    Dora said, finding Millie’s laughter infectious.
    “Probably something you inherited from your mother. I always believed that a talent for good cooking runs in a family.”
    Dora refrained from replying.
    “I can see you and I are going to get along very well. I have more cookbooks than the local Barnes & Noble. Preston, he’s my husband, says that one day he’ll have to build an extra room just to hold them all.” She took a sip of her coffee. “And if you need any help with Tony and Penny, dear, you just yell. Lord knows, I’ve tried to help them all I can, but Tony is so pigheaded and seems so determined to do this alone.” Millie stopped talking long enough to shovel a bit of cake in her mouth and then follow it up with another sip of coffee. “I sometimes think he’s trying to prove something to his dead sister.”
    She made a tsk-tsk sound with her tongue.
    “How long has it been … since the accident?” Calvin had told her about the day that had changed Tony and Penny’s life, but she wanted to hear Millie’s take on it. Dora picked up a particularly fat strawberry and popped it in her mouth, savoring the sweet juice that flowed over her taste buds and then prolonged the pleasure by licking the chocolate from her fingertips.
    Millie furrowed her brow. “I think it’s a little over a year now. Yes, it was September, shortly after the school year started.” She shook her head. “So sad. Rosalie was so young, so full of life. She and Matt were so in love, and both of them adored that little girl. Tony—” She put her hands together and looked heavenward. “Tony thought Rosalie was the be-all and end-all. He loved her dearly.” She brushed some cake crumbs from the table into her palm and deposited them on her empty plate. “Rosalie and Matt were on their way to get pizza after they’d picked Penny up at school, when a car ran a red light and smashed into them. The driver was so drunk he didn’t even realize he’d been in an accident until the police showed up, gave him a sobriety test, and issued him a ticket, then carted him off to jail. Rosalie and Matt died instantly, thank the Lord. Penny was fortunate enough to go unhurt.” She made a derisive sound with her tongue. “There was no one else to care for little Penny, so Tony sold his condo and moved here from Georgia.” Millie covered Dora’s hand with hers. “I can tell you, I wasn’t sure that man would ever recover from his sister’s death.”
    Dora wanted to say that he hadn’t recovered, but she held her tongue. She hadn’t been around long enough to make that type of observation without causing a shower of questions.
    Obviously feeling quite at home, Millie got up and retrieved the coffeepot. She filled both their cups and returned the pot to the base. Dora smiled inwardly. She had a feeling that Millie was what they classified up there as a Giver , someone who gleaned all their life’s joys from doing for others.
    “Do you have children, Millie?” Dora asked on an impulse.
    The joy faded from Millie’s eyes. Moisture gathered immediately in their blue depths, and Dora regretted her question. She should have remembered that Calvin had told her Millie was barren. Dora could have bitten off her tongue. The last thing she wanted was to cause this sweet lady any distress.
    “Oh, Millie, I am so very sorry. I shouldn’t have pried.”
    “It’s all right, dear. The Lord never blessed us with children.” She bowed her head. “I used to mourn the fact that I would never have a baby of my own to hold. But I’ve become resigned over the years. I’m sure He had a good reason.”
    “I’m so sorry,” Dora said again, the words coming from the deepest part of her heart. Though she professed otherwise,