Sisterchicks on the Loose Read Online Free Page B

kittens.” Gloria defended herself to the end, saying that fish had nothing to do with this expression.Everyone she knew said “kettle of kittens.”
    From that day on Gloria decided she didn’t like my rude, uninformed friend. She started referring to Penny as “Daveswife.” For some unspecified reason, Gloria adored Dave and thought we should have named our youngest son after him. She even said once, in front of our children, that she couldn’t understand why Dave married Penny. Gloria said she doubted if Daveswife was “redeemed.”
    Joshua, who was four at the time, said, “What’s that word mean?”
    I will never forget Gloria’s answer. “
Redeemed
means you stop being rude and become a nice person.”
    My innocent son tilted his head. “Gamma Gloria, are you redeemed?”
    Grampa Max intervened by whisking Josh out to the garage in search of some phantom fishing pole Max said he had left at our house. Gloria changed the topic.
    It had been six years since that incident. As I now lingered over the dryer, folding towels, I thought how Penny was more redeemed than the rest of us, if that’s possible.
    I’d grown up with God the same way I’d grown up with Jeff and all the other steady surroundings of Chinook Springs. When I was five years old, I prayed a simple prayer one night with my sweet mother. I asked Jesus to come into my heart. That was it. I never knew anything other than Christ’s forgiveness and God’s provision. Salvation had been handed to me by the same soft hands that had tucked me in under a fluffy comforter each night. I acquiesced to God at the simplest level of childlike faith, and His presence in my life was as comforting as the glow of the hallway night-light.
    For Penny, salvation came after weeks of hand-to-handcombat with the same hands that compressed the stars and sent them spinning across the galaxy. Once she grabbed hold of the tiniest piece of Him, she wouldn’t let go until He blessed her. Penny sought God and fought God until He was all she could think about. She took long walks so she could argue with Him in private. In the end, I like to think she won His heart the same day she gave Him hers.
    I returned to the kitchen with a stack of folded towels. The fresh pot of coffee was ready. Pouring a cup for my mother-in-law, I wondered about the real reason for her visit that afternoon. I placed the coffee in front of her and reached for the cup of cold coffee she had been sipping.
    “Sharondear, you’re not going to throw that out, are you? I told you I would drink it.”
    “It’s too cold.”
    “Well, it’s no wonder you kids are so low on money the way you throw away food. Do you know how expensive coffee is these days? I would think that with one son in college and another about to start in the fall, you would be more concerned about your finances.”
    “We’re doing fine.”
    “I guess you must be doing fine. If saving money were important to you, I don’t suppose you’d be wasting it on passport applications and travel books.”
    Bingo! This was what she really came for
.
    “I can’t imagine how you and Daveswife came up with this irrational idea. I asked Jeffrey last night why he’s letting this charade go on, when all of us know it’s not going to happen.”
    “And what did Jeff say?” I tried to keep my voice steady.
    Gloria turned away and muttered, “He said he thinks the trip is a good idea.”
    “It is a good idea.” I smiled inwardly at the unwaning support of my darling husband. My mother-in-law might know the same language as the guilt vulture that had been circling for days, ready to devour the dream once it gave up its last breath, but my Jeff was speaking a different language over me. He chose to believe the truth even before I did.
    “A good idea? Sharondear, how can leaving your husband and children to go gallivanting around Iceland with that Daveswife be a good idea? I never would have expected you to turn on your family like this and