Free The Lullaby Sky by Carolyn Brown

down four plates. “Gina, from down at the shelter, called me first thing this morning to tell me how much they appreciate the donations and to talk about your offer, Hannah. It’s a good thing you are doing.”
    “What’s a good thing?” Sophie asked.
    “Giving away those things to the shelter,” Aunt Birdie answered. “Most folks don’t think to send men’s stuff. Some of those boys will use those nice shoes for things like the prom.”
    Hannah pulled syrup from the pantry and milk from the refrigerator and set both on the table. “If you don’t come out from under that pillow, Sophie Arlene O’Malley, I intend to eat all these chocolate chip pancakes myself.”
    “And I’m going to eat the buckwheat ones,” Travis called out.
    The pillow flew across the room, and both Darcy and Sophie sat straight up. Darcy tossed the throw to one side, jerked a thigh-length nightshirt down, and made her way to the kitchen. With one leap and a few steps, Sophie was sitting at the kitchen table in her usual spot, eyeing the platter of pancakes.
    “Mama, grace this so I can eat before it gets cold . . . please,” she added as an afterthought.
    Hannah squeezed syrup from the bottle into a coffee mug and set it in the microwave, poked the buttons, and laid a hand on Sophie’s shoulder as she bowed her head. “Why don’t you say the grace, since this is your favorite Saturday morning breakfast?”
    “Father up in the sky, thank you for these pancakes and for Aunt Birdie. She is the bestest, and you need to give her a blessing today. Amen,” Sophie said loud and clear.
    “And you thought the clouds were a passing thing?” Travis whispered. “I believe they might be with us longer than that old quilt. They might even last through eternity.”
    Hannah flashed a smile reminiscent of when she was in elementary school. There was his Hannah, the one he’d had the crush on.
    Aunt Birdie headed toward the bedroom. “While y’all eat, I’m going to take a peek at this new room.
    “Well, isn’t this beautiful. You should do the whole house like this, Hannah,” she called out from the room. “I like the way the sun comes right into the room. You should paint all the woodwork and your kitchen cabinets white.”
    “I agree.” Darcy forked three buckwheat pancakes onto her plate and covered them with the warm maple syrup the second it came out of the microwave. “Hey, I could drive over after work each evening next week and we could do a room a night?”
    “I’ve offered to help, too.” Travis stacked up three pancakes, one of each kind, on his plate.
    “Darcy, you can come stay any time you want. Any evening that you want to drive over here from Gainesville, feel free,” Hannah said.
    “My room, too!” Sophie’s eyes bugged out. “I get blue in my room?”
    “Do you want your room to be blue?” Darcy asked.
    Sophie’s dark curls wiggled as her head bobbed up and down. “And can I have a rainbow on the wall with white clouds all around it? Then I can put my quilt on the bed and ’tend I’m outside even when it’s raining.”
    “Travis?” Darcy glanced his way.
    A wide grin split his face. “Don’t ask me. The queen of this castle is sitting on the throne.”
    “Queen? You mean Mama?” Sophie giggled.
    “Yes, ma’am.” Travis nodded.
    “Then Queen Mama, can I have a rainbow on my wall?”
    “Travis?” Hannah flashed a brilliant smile, her brown eyes all aglitter.
    “Why Travis?” Sophie asked.
    “Because he’s real good at painting. He painted the mascot for our high school basketball team on the wall in the gym, and he was always the one who built and painted the props for plays and the floats for the parades,” Darcy explained.
    “You never told me that,” Sophie said.
    “You never told me that you like rainbows,” Travis said.
    “Well, I do like them. Can I have a rainbow on my wall, please, Travis?”
    “I will be honored to paint a rainbow and some clouds on your wall,